Sora and the Princess of Power
by SPARTAN-X013
Summary: Sora, Donald and Goofy are on the start of their new adventure! Too bad they get sucked through a wormhole almost right away. Having crash landed on Etheria, Sora is determined to find Donald and Goofy, and the missing pieces of the Gummi Ship. Along the way, Sora will meet and befriend She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and help the Rebellion defeat the evil Horde.
1. Chapter 1

~Deep Space~

Sora held his hand up to his face like a pretend telephone and spoke slowly and sporadically while ignoring the loud noises around him, "Highwind, Captain's Log, Stardate: 2013.7...or something. We...never fixed the clock since...the Macaroni and Cheese Incident. For awhile now we have been traversing...the large expansion that...is the universe. With...all of the passages between world gone..finding...the Olympus Coliseum is at crawl. We were taking shifts...flying...the Highwind as we usually do. Right now we are...in a crisis. We have flown far, far too...close to a Wormhole. We alway did our best to avoid those...Goofy fell asleep at the wheel. We are now...certainly doomed. _Final_ Captain's Log, over and out."

The moment Sora used his free hand to 'hang up' the pretend phone, all the noise he was ignoring to this point came rushing back to him. The most prominent things bombarding his ears were the warning alarms and Donald and Goofy's screaming. He quickly joined in their screaming, "WHAT DO WE DO?! WHAT DO WE DO?!"

"I'm trying to find the Warp button! It'll takes us back, but we've got to press it before it's too late!" Donald yelled out.

"Gawrsh! But which button is it?! All of the controls have been rearranged since the last time we brought it into the garage!" Since the beginning of their new adventure, the trio have been flying a completely retrofitted Gummi Ship with all new feature, courtesy of Cid, Chip and Dale, and haven't quite learned all of the new features.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Donald screeched back.

Sora flopped forward and landed on the control console, "THEN LET'S PRESS ALL OF THE BUTTONS!"

"NOOO! DON'T!" Donald squacked at him, but Goofy was already joining him in panic, pressing every button he could reach. He blinked a couple of times at them before his temper got the better of him once again, "WHAAHAAAHAAA!" Donald jumped forward and charged at the two to push them away, only for his webbed feet to catch the control stick.

Immediately this sent the Gummi Ship into an uncontrollable spiral, and headed straight for the Wormhole they were trying so hard to escape from. The three heroes tried to hold on to each other for dear life, but were sent pinballing around the cockpit. The last thing they heard before losing consciousness were the blaring sirens and the tearing and breaking noise that followed when dismantling Gummi parts.

* * *

Adora was at a complete lost, she didn't know what she was suppose to be doing anymore. She was just trying to make things right when she first agreed to come to Bright Moon, her two new friends downplayed what the inhabitants reaction would be when a former Horde agent walked in on their kingdom. Then they hid her in a room, telling her to transform into She-Ra before the Queen Angella walked in, an ability she didn't quite understand how to use yet. They mentioned there would be 'torches and pitchforks if she were discovered before any formal introductions, which was understandable, but she was sure she could have been discreetful enough if she came outside. She was getting nowhere in that room, and she had hoped that some fresh air and more space would have been more progressive in her transformation. It was not.

Then in the midst of her attempts, she somehow transformed Horsey into a winged unicorn thing! How that was a thing, she had no idea. Then Horsey started freaking out at his transformation, really, who wouldn't? She sure did the first time! In his panic, Horsey flew into a nearby camp she didn't noticed on her way down and started wrecking the place. She only wanted to fix her mistake before someone got hurt, but then her disguise was blown and she was discovered. True to the words of Princess Glimmer and Bow, there were indeed torches and pitchforks as the entire encampment came after her, soldiers and civilians alike, driving her deep into the Whispering Forest. Now she was completely lost in more ways than one.

In her desperation, she begged for help from the first person she saw that didn't attack her on sight, a crazed old lady by the name of Madame Razz. She seemed to recognize her at first, but started referring to her as Mara. Razz then insisted that they had made plans to go berry picking together, and somehow drag or tricked her into following. It happened so fast she was barely able to keep up with her incoherent ramblings. Something about some made up imaginary friends?

That's when she saw it, a massive, but crumbling ruins of an old castle. It looked like something the First One's made if she was going by what she saw just and learned yesterday. "I've-I've seen something like this before. This is a First One's ruins, isn't it?" She spoke her mind without paying any attention. She was really becoming overwhelmed by everything.

"And the best place to pick berries!" Madame Razz called from the spire. How did that old lady get up there, and so fast too?!

Adora watched in amazement as she leapt and climbed the tall structure. Really, no elderly person should be able to do that. She flinched in worry, doubly so when it appeared she was triggering some sort of machinery as parts of the spire were lighting up.

"Wait! Get down from there, it isn't safe!" She tried to warn her. And true to her prediction, a defense mechanism shocked the elderly Razz and sent her tumbling down. Adora immediately dropped her magical sword to run up and catch her before she crashed into the ground. She let out a sigh when the old woman was safely in her arms before she carefully laid her down.

She didn't relax though, as the tip of the tall spire began to emit a bright, blue light that spread to the entire castle's remains. It seemed it was a hologram of some kind that showed the structure during its prime, and nothing else hopefully.

"Oh dear, that was an exciting tumble, eh?" A new purple light shown above their heads, hundreds and hundreds of small white dot filled about them. Just like a starry night. She's only heard of them, they haven't been seen in a long, long time.

"Stars…" was all she could utter.

"Oh, we used to come here to look at the stars all the time, don't you remember, Mara? They are all gone now. What happened to the stars?"

She was getting the unmistakable feeling of deja vu, like it was from a recent dream she forgot about. "I think I've seen them before. I know all of this somehow." Her eyes were glued to the sky above, this was so much for her to take, so beautiful too. She watched as one of the stars began to twinkle. It twinkled again, and again, and again, and it grew even bigger and brighter, before it looked like...it exploded? The light broke up into many pieces, each on becoming even bigger still. The 'sky' began to shake before disappearing with all of the stars, but the one she was watching remained still. That was impossible though. It was broad daylight still and actual stars haven't been seen in centuries. Wait...did it look like one the the chunks was heading straight for her? No, can't be...could it?

A terribly loud and explosive noise came from above! Adora's eye twitched, could the light from the First One's ruin be the reason for it to come this way like a beacon? Could the very machine that showed an inhabitant of a world that hasn't seen stars in forever be the reason for a shooting star to come crashing her direction?! Yes. Now it's time to "RUN!" She scoped Madame Razz over her shoulder, grabbed the Sword of Protection with her free hand, and ran back into the woods and away from the impending crash landing.

She dove behind a large, fallen column and yelled "Cover your ears!" Adora followed her own advice and covered her ears and close her eyes shut. Madame Razz did the same without question. Then it happened.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosive force of the impact made the two momentarily leave the ground before falling back down like ragdolls. Adora stood back up in a daze and with a loud ringing in her ears, taking a moment to look around. The main tower of the ruins still stood, but almost everything else had toppled and collapsed into further ruin. As for the shooting star that crash landed, well, she was not expecting this at all.

Bright orange and yellow chunks littered the ground around them. All the small pieces seem to be in some sort of standardized size, that is a cubic foot. The large chunk in the middle was hard to describe, whatever it originally object was, was long gone and broken. Adora looked one of the smaller chunks near her and decided to poke it with her sword. She touched the tip of the blade to feel any warmth and felt none. She took a deep gulp of air for picking it up. It turned out to not be too heavy, and whatever it was, it was very firm, yet at the same time very squishy. That didn't make any sense at all. She dropped the weird material before dropping down on her butt and hugging her knees to her chest. She didn't know how much more she could take. She just wished she never found that stupid sword that started all this.

Madame Razz walked up to her and looked at the large piece of the shooting star, "Wow, that was unbelievable. It was such a clear and sunny day today, I definitely didn't see the weather turning into this! Can't trust the forecast anymore, can you Broom?"

Adora let her head drop, "What am I supposed to do? What does all of this mean?" she muttered. 'I wish things could go back to the way things were before.'

She heard some shifting coming from straight ahead and looked up to see the large chuck fall apart even further. "Grr, ahhh." Was she hearing moaning? "Come on already!" The large chunk was moving, as though someone was trying to lift it. Was someone in there?! "Here we go, where we go!" Underneath a crevice, half of a body appeared, someone trying to squeeze their way out.

Adora leapt to her feet, "Hold on, I'm coming to help!" She grabbed the stranger's hand and pulled, but to no avail. "Hold still, I've got this!" She sat down next to his head and shoulder, propped her feet underneath the opening, got a good grip on his hand, and pushed with everything she's got while using the newfound leverage to start pulling stranger out. He was more than halfway out before he was able to crawl the rest of the way before collapsing on his back. Now that he was safe, she let go and fell backwards herself. Giving herself a momentarily breather she got back on her knees to look at the source of this new mystery.

He was a boy that looked like he could be her age. He was a little taller than her, had spiky, brown locks of hair that seemed to defy gravity, half opened ocean blue eyes, and interesting black clothes covered in yellow and red straps and pouches and an absurd amount of zippers. He wore an unique crown shaped necklace and rather large shoes, too. His face and exposed arms and legs were covered in nasty looking cuts and bruises.

"Hey, are you alright?" Adora asked carefully.

The boy looked up at her with unfocused eyes, "Hey, I'm cool. How are you doing today?! Did you do all of your homework last night?! 'Cause I sure didn't!" He yelled out incoherently before his head fell back as he passed out.

Adora could only rub the back of her neck as she looked down at him weirdly. What was she supposed to do now? Madame Razz approached from behind, chewing on some of the berries she's picked. "Oh dear, he doesn't look so good. What do you supposed happened to him?"

Her jaw dropped at that, "You've got to be kidding me?! We just watched him crash from the sky like a fiery ball of death. How could you not notice that?!"

The elderly woman took a moment to ponder, "Ah, I know why. It must be because I don't have my glasses on!"

Adora couldn't stop herself from face palming. "You're wearing them right now" she growled through gritted teeth.

Razz put a hand to her cheek in embarrassment, "Oh no, these are my reading glasses." She took her glasses off only to flip the upside down before placing them back on, "Ah, much better. Let's take a look here...oh dearie, what happened to him?!"

Both of Adora's hands smacked her in the face this time. "Are you serious?! Didn't you just hear what I just said?! He fell from space, like a shooting star!"

"Oh, I didn't have my glasses on at the time, couldn't hear a thing I'm afraid."

Her fears and uncertainty were quickly fleeing away to be replaced by frustration. She had to see if she could get this guy to come to, he must have a connection to her in all this. Why else would this happen along side all the rest of the crazy happenings to her. Plus someone hopefully more sane to talk to. 'Dear God, please let that weird rambling just be from the crash.'

Adora grabbed both of his hands before pulling him to a sitting position, she placed both her hands on his shoulder before gently shaking him. "Come on, please wake up! You've got to say something, and please let it make sense!" She watched as his eyes opened and blinked as they started wandering around, still unfocused.

"Hey, hey, hey. Right over here, looking me in the eye. My name is Adora, what's your name?" she asked him slowly.

He seemed to come to for real this time. He removed her hands before rubbing his face vigorously, "Adora? Ah man, what happened? My aching...uh, everything. Geez…"

Adora sighed a breath of relief, this could have been a lot worse. "Okay, where are you hurt exactly?"

The stranger was still rubbing at his eyes, "Uh, I wasn't kidding. The real good question I'm trying to figure out is what's _not_ hurting?"

"Yeah, that's...one heck of a fall you took."

Madame Razz approached from the side and, slowly but surely, pushed a berry in the boy's mouth. He looked at her in bewilderment for a moment before she whispered loudly "Berrieeeesss."

He slowly chewed it before swallowing, "Um, thank you?"

Adora stayed at knee level before place a hand on his shoulder, "So who are you, what happened?"

"Huh?! You were yelling at me when I asked what happened to him!" Madame Razz screeched in the background.

Adora barely paid her a glance, "Quiet, I'm ignoring you now."

The stranger tried to push himself up, only to quickly fall back down. He let out a sigh, "I'm Sora, and this is Dona- *GASP!* DONALD! GOOFY!" With new found strength, Sora quick jumped back on his feet and ran back to the wreckage. He called out for his wayward companions "Donald! Goofy!"

Adora ran and joined him, "There are others in there still?!"

Sora's injuries seemed to have caught back up with him because after his first attempt to move the odd material, he fell back down. He slapped himself in the face, "Idiot!" He brought his hands together where a green energy glowed from before he threw his right hand up, " _Cure_!" The energy summoned a bell shaped flower over his head that showered him with a green glow, and just like that, his cuts and bruises disappeared in an instant.

Adora's eyes shot open so wide she thought they nearly popped out, "No way! You can do magic, too?!"

Sora didn't seem to pay her much mind, only stretching his neck and back before getting back at trying to find his friends. With strength that only she had seen when she herself became She-Ra, this boy was able to lift a huge section of the wreck as he looked underneath. "DONALD! GOOFY!" He searched around some more, but alas to no avail. His friends weren't here.

"Where did they go?" he wondered to himself. Sure they could take care of themselves for the most part, but that still doesn't stop him from worrying about his friends. And this was a really bad crash, worse than the time when the three first started traveling together and ended up in the Deep Jungles where they met Tarzan.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! How did you do that?!" Adora stepped forward and pointed a finger at him.

Sora looked around to make sure she wasn't talking to anyone else, "Um, what exactly?"

She looked absolutely frazzled, her hopes that he would be more sane the Madame Razz was slowly slipping. "Wha-WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'what exactly?!' The part where you lifted that giant thing!"

Sora pulled his sleeve back and little and flexed his bicep, there was barely any definition to it, "Training and exercise" he said with a smile.

Adora's eye twitched at that, and she deadpanned "And the magic?"

"A wizard taught me!" he answered as though it were so simple.

 **SNAP!**

That was it, the final straw. She couldn't take anymore of this. Without saying another word, Adora turned around and walked away, didn't look back or anything until she reached the edge of the clearing and sat down on a fallen collum. She tucked her knees in, and let her head drop. She just gave up.

Sora watched her go curiously, not too sure what to make of all this. He turned to the older woman next to him, "What's with her? I'm pretty sure I'm the one that just walked away from a crash landing with my friends missing."

She shrugged her shoulder before eating another berry, "You got me."

"Well, I'm gonna go check on her."

Adora ignored the boy as he sat right next to her, "Hey, are you okay?"

She gritted through her teeth "Leave. Me. Alone."

"Hey, come on. I just want to help. You helped me a moment ago" he reasoned, "Thanks for that by the way."

Adora let out a sigh, "Yeah, you're welcome."

Sora put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "So come on, what's wrong?"

All of the feelings that she had decided to put a lid on fell off as quickly as she had put it on, "Okay! You wanna know?! You seemed like the first sane person I've seen in awhile, so why not?! My life, has fallen completely apart! The Horde, the people that raised me my whole life, ended up not being what I thought they were and I ended up betraying them by switching sides to the enemy. _This_ is after the fact that I found a magical sword that has turned my life upside-down, that can transform me into some sort of sword wielding powerhouse that is suppose to have some sort of destiny to fulfill. Then when I reach the enemy's castle, who I was supposed to join and help, they ended up chasing me away after I made some dumb mistake. My new friends were supposed to help ease me in to all of this, but I blew that out of the water! Then I meet that bucket of crazy over there!" She pointed back at Madame Razz who waved back innocently. "Then the giant ancient castle there starts up a lightshow I'm sure the world hasn't seen in centuries. Now lastly, _YOU_ come crashing down, you, you, and your crazy strength and your ability to use magic!" Adora let herself fall off her sitting spot and just laid out on the grass.

"Did I mention this all took place starting yesterday?"

Sora blinked twice. "Wow, that is A LOT to take in." He laid himself down next to her, they both spent a moment in silence, looking up at the blue sky and clouds.

"Maybe I should just turn myself in to the Horde? Take whatever punishment they have planned for me. Maybe they'll let be back in as a recruit again if I'm lucky. That way some bit of normality will come back, right? Salvage what's left of my life?"

"Yeah, I suppose you could do that. So, why did you really leave the Horde?" he asked, propping himself on his elbow and faced at her.

Adora did the same, "I guess it was because I found out that they were senselessly hurting and destroying everyone and everything they could."

"And you want to go back to them?"

Her eyes dropped for a moment, "No, I don't. I can't go back to them, not after what I saw."

"Why don't you try going back to your new friends and still see about helping them out then?"

Adora sat herself back up and pulled her knees in, "I tried that, and they ran me out!"

Sora sat up too, "Okay, so they chased you away. You said that they didn't know you yet, right? But do you really think you did _try_?"

She looked back down again, "No, I guess not. I guess I'm just really scared. Everything's happening just so fast."

Sora stood back up on his feet and dusted himself off. He held a hand out to her to pull her back up. She took it and Sora was looking her straight in the eyes. "So, feeling a little better now?"

Adora couldn't stop her blush, as weird as all of this has been for her, it had to be just as weird for him, too, if not weirder. He was almost too nice if that was a thing. "Yeah, thanks."

He put his hands at his waist, "Yu-huh, that's what friends are for."

She was surprised, she pointed at him and then herself, "You and me, we're friends?"

Sora smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we are now. Let's try this again, I'm Sora!" he held his hand out for a high five.

Adora couldn't wipe the smile from her face. "Oh-okay! I'm Adora, nice to meet you!" She wasn't too sure what gesture her new friend was trying to do, but she took a guess and poked his open hand with her finger. That made Sora break out in giggles.

A third hand joined in with the finger poking, "And I am Madame Razz!" the old lady joined in.

Adora frowned at that, she wasn't sure if she particularly liked this crazy, old woman. Sora didn't seem to mind as he laughed away still.

"Alrighty Adora, as your new friend, it's my duty to help push you in the right direction that both you and I agree is best for you. For starters, I think we should go back to that castle you were talking about and just explain what happened. I'm sure everything will turn out okay." Another idea popped in, "Who knows, maybe I can find Donald and Goofy there?!"

Adora nodded in agreement, "Yeah, maybe. They also have magic too, maybe they can help both of us figure this mess out."

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Madame Razz started cheering, "I am so glad that everyone is happy again. You were all becoming downers and I was debating whether or not I should find someone else more fun to hang out with."

Sora and Adora both looked at her strangely for a moment before Madame Razz continued, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! It was either you two, or Broom. And I'll tell you Broom cannot hold a conversation."

Sora burst out laughing again, taking it as one big joke. Adora on the other hand was pretty sure she was serious, but found Sora's laughter to be very infectious, and found herself laughing too.

The elderly woman beckoned the two to follow, "Okay now, follow Madame Razz. There is still something else that needs to be done."

Adora let out a sigh, "Not more berry picking, is it?"

"No, no, no! We reschedule. Something more pressing." She passed by Adora's sword before picking it up and tossing it to her more expertly than one might expect from her frail form. "You need that."

Adora put a hand on her hip and looked sceptical, Sora gave her a pat on the shoulder as he passed her up, "Come on, no harm in seeing what she wants to show us."

"You say that, but she totally electrocuted herself a moment long ago" she mumbled under her breath, but followed nonetheless.

The three walked through the forest for almost a minute before the trees suddenly became more thin. "So what is it that you wanted to show us?"

"Just in case if you have any more doubt in mind, I hope this will give you the final resolution you'll need to finally clear your mind. Do some good while we're at it" she explained mysteriously.

All of the sudden, the terrain changed extremely drastically. Once where there was dense forest, there was a sudden line crossed and now surrounding them was nothing but ashes and tree stumps.

"Whoaaa" Sora did not see this coming, "What happened here?"

Madame Razz was quick to point the answer, "They happened."

Adora was shocked from it all, but when she followed her finger, she felt a piece of her die inside. "No." In front of them still working were soldiers and machines bearing the Horde symbol. They looked like they were about to resume their work on mass deforestation. "A part of me still hoped...no!" She fell on her knees and pounded the ground as hard as she could. "I thought what we were doing was for the good of the world. How could they do this. Is there any real good that they do?!"

Adora straightened herself up. "I can never go back to them. I _won't_ ever go back to them. They're...monsters."

Madame Razz tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "It's the same old story, dearie. Wicked and terrible people destroy what they cannot control."

Sora wouldn't have any of that, "But they can't just do this! Isn't there anyone around that would stop them?!"

Razz let out a sigh, "Once the Princesses would have protected us. Now though, they choose to stay in their own castles, protecting only their lands. Meanwhile these foul villains creep ever closer to our demise."

Sora tried to think of an answer, "Could the Princesses, I don't know, team up or something to take these guys on? It sounds like they did in the past."

Adora looked downcast, "They did once, I was told, but everything fell apart. Now no one wants to work together, it seems." Sora looked downcast at that, too.

Madame Razz took a moment to give her a soothing pat. "You're very much like my Mara. Brave, loyal, but afraid."

Adora removed her hand and stood back up. Looking determined, she exclaimed "I'm not afraid!"

Madame Razz burst out laughing, "Dearie, you ran away into the woods and asked the first random old lady you could find 'what should I do!' Don't you remember your total meltdown only a few minutes ago, too?"

Sora nodded, "Yeah, you know, there's nothing wrong with being afraid. In fact, that's how someone can be brave, by charging in and doing what's right despite being afraid. I mean, that's how heroes are made, and I can tell by looking at you that you've got what it takes to go the distance and become a true hero!" Sora thought back to some of his adventures and his time with Hercules, Simba, and the Beast. They were all terrified at one point, to the point where they almost gave up, but they made the distance. They proved that they were true heroes that followed their hearts!

"So come on, let's not wait for a hero to come along and save the day. We've got the power to make a difference, so let's follow our hearts and let's be those heroes!"

Madame Razz applauded exuberantly, "Yes! See, see?! This is a smart boy with a good noggin! So tell me, what does your heart say?"

She placed a hand over her heart and closed her eyes, "My heart is telling me...that this is all wrong and that I need to stop it!" She opened her determined eyes, filled with nothing but resolute.

The crying neighs of a horse filled the air and the three ran forward to see a squad of Horde soldiers down below capturing and tying down the majestic winged unicorn. The very one that she had transformed earlier. "Horsey!" She looked down at her blade, this was her fault. She had to make it right. "I'm going to fight Sora. What will you do?"

"What do you think?! I'm fighting, too!" Sora fist pumped.

She smirked at him, "Think you can keep up?"

He smirked back, "Thought my healing was cool? Check this out!" Sora held his hand out, and in a brilliant show of light, a strange sword was summoned to his hand. It was odd, looking like an old fashioned skeleton key with a gold hand guard and a silver blade. It had teeth as well, looking like the crown necklace he wore. "Keyblade."

Adora looked at it with shining eyes. "You have a magic sword, too? So cool!"

"Right?!"

She looked down at her own sword again, this time feeling a familiar surge of power. "Alright, let me show you something even cooler." She held her mystical sword up, " _For the honor of Grayskull_!" In a blinding flash of rainbow lights, Adora began to transform. She had become taller than Sora by at least a foot, her hair became completely undone and grew much longer and wilder, her militant clothes were replaced by beautiful white clothing and a skirt, and gained some golden armor, a billowing red cape, and a winged tiara.

Sora watched as she glew with a warm and wonderful light, his jaw had nearly dropped at the suddenness of it all, but pulled himself back together. "Okay, that is SO cool!"

She looked back at him with glowing blue eyes, and she smirked as she mirrored him from a moment ago, "Right?" She returned her attention back down below towards the Horde and the captured winged unicorn. "I say it's also time to kick some butt."

Sora readied himself, "Oh yeah! Waiting on you!"

She nodded, "LET'S DO THIS!" she roared. She leapt forward and landed in the middle of the group with a three point landing, and swung her Sword of Protection and tore the net into pieces. Horsey, seeing his chance to escape, took it without a second to waste and flew off.

The large, burly and hairy of a commander was quick attack while the rest backed away. As his attack neared Adora, she held her brace up to deflect the attack, but it never reached her as Sora landed behind him and knocked him away with a swing of his sword. "You really should be careful. Those superhero landings are really bad for the knees!"

Adora opted to ignore him, "I am She-Ra, and I demand you all to stop what you are doing and leave this place!"

The Beastman yelled from where he landed, "Don't just stand there, shoot the Princess and her friend!"

His troops, with command reaserted, snapped back into formation with their weapons drawn. Before they could open fire on her, She-Ra performed a powerful horizontal swing so strong, the force force sent the men flying back and tore up the earth.

"Nice one!" Sora called out before jumping on a sawing vehicle and bisected the saw from the rest of the machine. With a spin, he threw it straight at another one of these terrible machines and watched it explode.

Quickly liking his idea, She-Ra did the same thing as she jumped on a tank, cutting through the barrel and using it to take down another unmanned vehicle. She eyed another one of the machines up on a hill looking down at them before she hurled her blade straight at it. The force of the impact was enough to explode in a ball of fire.

"More bad guys incoming!" Sora warned as more soldiers exited their tents and ran in their direction. "I'll take care of these guys!" Sora ran head first into the squad and headbutted the one in the lead. The hit was strong enough to make him fall back into his comrade. He didn't stay up for long before getting wacked in the side, courtesy of Sora's Keyblade. A trooper tried to zap him with his blaster baton, but Sora easily rolled away before casting " _Fira_!" A ball of fire was launched from the tip of his sword and impacted the most middle ground the soldier shared before exploding, sending them scattering.

Back with She-Ra, she was faced of with the Beastman commander and had him cornered. He looked panicked before another squad of Holde soldiers arrived to back him up, giving him a chance to put some distance from the warrior. It didn't take long for her to dispatch this new squad with well placed bare punches and even a headbutt as well.

From afar, Madame Razz cheered them on before swinging herself down the hill to grab She-Ra's sword before tossing it in its owner's direction. She-Ra had to jump to grab it, and used the opportunity to land atop another soldier before giving her blade a few swings, taking down a couple more soldiers by using the flat of her blade.

More soldiers were coming still, but now Razz was in their sights. One of the soldier ran up and grabbed her roughly by the arm, trying to push her down to the ground. She wasn't having any of this though and swung her broom uselessly in his face. "Back, back away you nasty!"

She-Ra's eyes widened, "Razz, no!"

That was when Horsey made his grand return by knocking the man down and gave him a few good stomps to keep him there. She gave a sigh of relief as she watched him fly majestically through the air, this was disturbed as a tank was sent flying dangerously close to Horsey and landed in the hillside.

"Sorry!" She heard Sora call out, but as she watched the heavily armed vehicle come crashing down, she saw the commander hop inside another one of those tanks and took aim at the winged unicorn.

"I won't let you!" she roared as she jumped in front of the barrel and sliced it off. She was sure that would have disabled the cannon, to her fear however, the cannon glew once more before firing point blank into her chest, knocking her far back and unconscious.

"Mara, NO!" Razz immediately rushed to her side. It was no use, she was out cold.

Sora ran back towards them with dozens more of Horde soldiers on his tail. "Guys, they got WAY more soldiers than I think we're ready for right now!" As he got closer, he saw his newest friend passed out on the ground with Razz and Horsey hovering over her. "Adora!" Sora ran up and threw She-Ra over his shoulders. "Razz, they're too many of them! Climb on, we need to get out of here now!"

She nodded, "Yes! It is time for us to go! Stay still now!" Holding a pallet in her hand, she called out "Razzle Dazzle!" before throwing it down and an explosion of pink smoke erupted. As the smoke disappeared, there was absolutely no sign of any of the attackers. Just an empty space where they once stood.

* * *

As the pink smoke lifted, Sora was left trying to hack up a lung with whatever it was he inhaled from Razz's smoke pallets. What was she trying to do, he couldn't see anything around him, let alone barely breathe. Blinking to clear his vision, Sora was not met a hundred Horde soldiers pointing their blasters at him, but instead some familiar woods and an unfamiliar house built into a tree.

"Huh?! How did we get here?"

Madame Razz let out a sigh, "*Phew* By using one of Madame Razz's teleporting smoke bombs. Very difficult to make, very valuable magic used, but worth it to save my precious Mara."

Sora dismissed the Keyblade and held She-Ra more comfortably in his arms, "Umm, pretty sure she introduced herself as Adora, not Mara. No, wait! What did she call herself after she transformed? Was it Mara? Thought it was like She-Ra or something?"

"To me, she is my Mara."

"Uh, sure, okay" he said with a nod, thinking better to not argue with her. There was a bright glow as the seven-foot tall girl in his arms transformed back into the five and a half foot Adora he first met. The sudden size change nearly made him drop her. He looked for a place to comfortably lay her down.

"Mmmhmm" Adora moaned in his arms, she was coming to.

Sora whispered loudly to her, "Psst. Adora, are you awake?" She opened one bloodshot eye at him and looked immediately scared. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't worry, we got away from the bad guys. Are you okay?"

She struggled in his arms for a moment before Sora set her down. She fell on all fours and held a hand to her throat, she her voice coughed and scratched out, "Water! Water! Need water!" The direct cannon blast had actually dried her throat, eyes and nose out something awful and she felt each breathe she took set her lungs on fire.

Razz ran inside her home right away, "I'm getting, I'm getting!"

Sora carefully rubbed her back as the elderly woman came running back with a bucket of water and a ladle. She set it down in front of her and scooped some water to drink, but Adora ignored it and instead dunked her entire head inside the bucket.

"Hey, easy there!" Sora pulled her head out to make sure she wouldn't start choking. He grabbed the ladle from Madame Razz and scooped up more water, "Drink from this before you hurt yourself."

Adora quickly grabbed it, gulped it down down before tossing it and went straight back to the bucket. She manage to cough out "Burns! Everything burns!" her head was resubmerged.

Sora let out a sigh before summoning his Keyblade to his hand. He used his free hand to pull Adora back up once more before he casted " _Cure_!" The bell shaped flower hovered her head for a bit as she was showered in green energy. Her struggling almost came to a complete stopped as she was able to relax.

Adora carefully sat on her bottom as she breathed carefully now. The burning of her face and chest was nearly all gone, what was left felt like a phantom pain at this point. "Wow, thanks for that."

He nodded, "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah, much." She tasted her mouth, it was still dry and there was a nasty taste in there now. "Think I could get that ladle back now?" The three looked to where the ladle landed, it was sticking straight down in the mud.

"Yeah, probably not."

"What?! Nonsense! Dirt and mud is good for you. Razz will fetch."

They both blinked at that before Sora turned to Adora and quickly and quietly chanted "Drink it, Drink it, Drink it, Drink it, Drink it, Drink it, Drink it!" She didn't need to be told the third time and after for her to start chugging down the bucket of water before Madame Razz returned with the disgusting ladle.

"Aha, Madame Razz is back, dearie. Now drink to your heart's fill" she innocently held the dripping ladle for her to use.

Panting, Adora held up the now empty bucket. "Sorry, was just so thirsty I couldn't wait another moment." She panted some more, now a bit of a water belly jiggling underneath her.

"Oh yeah" Sora nodded in agreement, "But I think she's good now. No need for a refill, right Adora?"

Her head bobbed back and forth, "Yup~"

Sora caught a glimpse of Adora's sword from where they appeared and went to go get it, passing Horsey as he trotted up to Madame Razz. He returned back with the sword, giving it an inspection. While he was an expert Keyblade Wielder at this point, he honestly still didn't much about swords or weapons in general. He still thought this magic sword looked awesome though. He handed it back back to its owner who took it gratefully.

"So what exactly happened when you used your sword and turned on the lightshow?"

Adora looked at herself using the sword's reflection, she smiled. She was able to transform on command for the second time, but this time she felt far more control then the first. Maybe she's getting the hang of this...or did it have something to do with what Sora and Razz had to say to her? "With this, I'm able to transform into a magical warrior called She-Ra. I'm not too sure what the purpose of it is, but I know what I'm going to do now. I'm going to fight the Horde" she declared.

"Oooooh, that's cool. So is it still you when you become seven feet tall, or is She-Ra in control?"

"Hmph, nope, it's still me."

Sora looked really excited, "Ah man, that is SO cool! You can become taller anytime you want, and wearing an awesome outfit to boot! I wish I could do that!" He paused for a moment to think, "Well, I suppose I could in fact transform my clothes like that already, but the taller part is cool!"

Adora crossed her arms, "I mean, yeah, there's all that, but the fact I get superhuman strength didn't cross your mind first?!"

Sora put a hand to his chin, "Hmmm, guess not. I thought you looked pretty strong already."

She threw both her hands up, "Hey don't get me wrong, I'm still real strong as I am now. Stronger than you, I bet!"

Sora held a hand up, "Wait, wait, wait" he started sniffing the air around her. He actually got closer more than she was comfortable with, "Is that *SNIFF* a challenge I smell?"

She blinked before smirking, now she had the idea, "Hmm, let me check. *SNIIIIIIIFF* No wait, that's a challenge I smell me winning!"

Sora ran and kneeled at a nearby tree stump, "Arm wrestle!"

She met him head on, "Bring it!" The two went at it for almost a whole minute. The two looked like they were struggling. "Okay, I admit it. You're pretty strong."

Through gritted teeth, he replied "Yeah, you too. But I got some bad news for you."

Adora managed to raise an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? What?"

"I don't know, think that this is really gonna piss you off."

"Grrr, come on, I can take it."

"Well okay...I'm totally faking it."

Adora almost felt herself falter, but pulled herself back together. She wasn't about to let him trick her. "Yeah right."

A chuckle escaped from Sora, "No really, I am. I'm guessing you didn't see me toss the tank through the air, did you?"

Her mind flashed back to that, it had almost hit Horsey. At the time, she had only briefly wondered what it was before she was pulled into another skirmish. "No way! That was you?!"

He nodded, "Yup." He immediately slammed her hand down and won. "But that was fun though. We should do that again with you as She-Ra though, see who would win then."

Adora shook her hand to get some feeling back, "Yikes, no kidding. Hey, you know you almost hit Horsey, right?"

Sora put his hands up in defense, "Hey, I said I was sorry at the time. I can go say sorry to Horsey again, though."

She nodded, "Yes, let's." The both got up and approached Horsey and Madame Razz. Oddly enough, it looked like winged creature was whispering in her ear. The moment the got closer, Horsey trotted and rubbed his long face into hers, showing his gratitude.

"Yes, yes. Swift Wind and I were talking and he wanted me to thank you two on his before for saving him." He came along and nuzzled with Sora as well.

"Wait, Swift Wind?" Adora asked curious.

"Why this one, of course." She indicated Horsey, or Swift Wind as he seem to prefer being called. "He also said that he thought Horsey was a stupid name for anyone to think of."

Swift Wind looked nervously back and forth. It seemed he didn't intend for Razz to share that bit.

"Sooo" Razz seemed to want to steer the conversation in her direction, "How do you feel?"

Adora felt her chest up a bit, Sora blushed as he politely looked away, and nodded, "Much better, thanks to Sora."

Razz waved it off nonchalantly, "Yes, yes, yes, but I'm talking more importantly up here" She pointed to her head.

She smiled and nodded at that, "I meant that, too. I think I know what I'm going to do now. If the Princesses won't defend Etheria, then I will. There's too much wrong that Bright Moon can't fix on their own, and they'll need all the help they can get. I have to get back to them."

"AHA! That's the spirit!" she cheered. She came up to Sora and took both his hands. "Thank you, young man. It is thanks to you and your words that you helped my dearie get out of her runt and get her head back on straight!"

Sora gave her a big smile, "Yeah, of course. I'm always happy to help a friend out!" He turned to Adora, "Hey, I don't suppose I can come with you to this Bright Moon place, can I? I'm really hoping to find Donald and Goofy there."

She looked really happy when he asked that, "Yeah, of course you can come. If...I'm a little honest, I was hoping you'd ask. You really helped me out a lot today, and I was hoping if I could count on you to help me a little more, if that's okay?"

He nodded, "Sure can! Like I said, that's what friends are for!" He turned back to the older lady, "If you see my friends come by, do you think you can tell them to head to Bright Moon Castle for me? Donald's short with white feathers, maybe a little greedy. And Goofy's pretty tall and super nice, and may try to give you a hug. You'll know them when you see them."

Madame Razz smiled, "Of course I can. Now you all get going now. Much work to be done" she said finally before turning around and went back into her home.

Adora nervously scratched the back of her head, "So, just in case you don't remember, they chased me off last time I was there. It might happen again, possibly."

Sora gave her a confident smile, "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will work out."

She nodded before turning to Swift Wind, "I don't suppose you could give the both of us a ride to the castle?"

He looked away for a moment. "Pleeeease?" the two pleaded together. He gave a playful huff before spreading his wings and bending down.

Sora and Adora looked at each other and smiled. "It might be a good idea if I suited up."

"If they chased you out from the way you looked before, probably."

She held the Sword of Protection up and called out " _In the Honor of Grayskull_!" In a flash of colorful lights, Adora had transformed into She-Ra. She climbed on Swift Wind and held a hand out for Sora to take. Taking her hand, Sora was pulled up and sat behind her. She-Ra pointed her sword forward, "To Bright Moon Castle!" she shouted before they took to the air.

"Hey, think they'll lend me a cart so I can grab what's left of my ship later?"

* * *

"Wow, that's a really pretty castle!" Sora commented as they flew within sights of Bright Moon Castle. Suspended in front of the main entrance was giant crystal that glew brilliantly.

"Yeah...it's something I'm certainly not used to yet" She-Ra let her uncomfortness show.

"Oh, what was it like where you grew up? With the Horde."

"Hmm, a lot more machines and metal, plenty of smog. No trees really."

Sora couldn't help but frown, he couldn't really imagine many people growing up happy there. "Wow, that's sounds really sad and depressing."

She-Ra let out a sigh, "Yeah, that's what Glimmer and Bow think, too." She took an extra moment to think on something. "Hey, you've gone to parties before, right?"

Sora nodded euthesticly at that, "Yeah I've gone to parties! So fun! Is there one now?"

She let out a moan and didn't answer. Sora thought better than ask, especially now with how nervous she is about walking into the castle. "Hey, cheer up. Everything will work out, you'll see. Here, let's try to get you in the right mind set and come up with a plan. What are we gonna do?"

"*Sigh*, Well discretion is not going to do me favors. Right now I think I'm going to have to be direct as possible."

He let out a fist pump, "Doing things head on, I like it! Ahem, 'I am She-Ra! I walk in here offering you,' no wait, 'I pledge myself to the Rebellion!' And then you go 'There is one catch however,' you turn off the She-Ra and show them your awesome self, 'I was once a Horde Soldier, not anymore though, so you better deal with it!'" He paused for a moment, "Feel free to not use that last part. That might not do you any favors."

She-Ra thought a bit on what he said, "No, no. I think I like it, not that last part like you said, but being so direct to walk in, announce myself, pledge my services to the cause, then reveal myself." She let out another sigh, "I really hope Glimmer and Bow would be there to help vouch for me."

"Hey, I'm here to help vouch for you, too!"

She-Ra smiled, "As nice a guy you are, I think the queen would take her daughter's word over yours."

"Wait, Glimmer or Bow is a princess?"

That incited a laugh from her, "Yeah, Princess Glimmer, and Bow's a boy."

"That's neat you're friends with a princess. I'm actually friends with a few myself" Sora admitted.

She-Ra looked back at him quizzically, "You're from space, they have Princesses out there, too?"

"Oh yeah. One of my best friends is actually a princess as well. Her name's Kairi." She-Ra felt a little relieved at that. If he's friends with Princesses, space or not, then he would have a little more insight on formal behavior to help her with. "I think I see where we need to go. Ready to go Adora, or should I say She-Ra?"

She went on and slapped her cheeks together, pumping herself up, "Yeah, I think so. Let's do this."

"Oh, wait, wait. Think you can turn the glow on from now?" he asked. "Flashy, godly entrance is sure to help." She-Ra looked down at her sword before closing her eyes and focused. "Nice effects, no way anyone could resist the mighty glow! I think we're ready!"

She opened her eyes and indeed she was glowing. Eyes, clothes, hair, everything was glowing pretty brightly with hardly any effort. She-Ra smirked, feeling even more confident, "Right, let's do this!" She steered Swift Wind to the main entrance before giving him a grateful pat. "This is our stop, thanks for everything Swift. I hope I get to see you soon!" She nuzzled the side of his face before jumping off, closely followed by Sora.

"I still think I like Horsey better!" he got one last bit in before Swift Wind flew out sight.

As they landed, the two heavily armed, female guards the door, started to lift their weapons in response to their sudden appearance, but quickly backed away from She-Ra's awing appearance. As they stepped through, they head some shouting from up ahead, what it was about they didn't know.

Approaching the throne, everyone's heads turned to look at them in amazement. The glowing effects was a fantastic idea. Standing at the throne was a finely dressed woman, tall with unusual purple tinted skin, long wavy pink hair, and translucent wings of all things on her back. Standing in front of her were a boy and girl, similarly aged as them. The girl bit on the shorter and thicker side, similarly dressed as the tall woman, and a boy with lightly gold plated armor with a quiver on his back, and showed a lot of midriff.

The boy and girl seemed to have recognized them, or at least She-Ra, right away. The queen seemed to be in awe for a moment before mumbling "It can't be…"

"Mom, this what what I was trying to tell you, this is-" the girl started, assumed Princess Glimmer, before she was interrupted.

"She-Ra" her mother finished. She seemed to be in a daze looking down at the blond woman that stepped forward. Sora was behind her with his arms behind his head.

"And Sora, hi there! I didn't think you two would know each other already. Could have mentioned that" he mumbled that last part.

She-Ra shot him a look, she was pretty sure this was not how someone behaved in a royal court. Anyone would know that much at least, wasn't he supposed to know this stuff already?! She cleared her throat, "Your Majesty, I've come to pledge myself to the Rebellion." All of her nervousness was coming back now.

"I don't mind helping, too!" Sora raised his hand and waved it a bit.

Her eye twitched a bit at that. Why was he treating this so simply? He patted her shoulder before giving her a thumbs up. Maybe it really was more simple than she thought it would be? She swallowed the lump in her throat and pushed on to the end, "But first, there's something you should know." The power of She-Ra that fully encompassed her, the feeling that made her feel mighty and powerful, she let it go and let herself become her regular true self again.

All around them, everyone was gasping and whispering to one another in worry. The words heard multiple times was Horde Soldier. Everyone looked fearful, except for the boy and girl next to them.

"Please wait mom, this is Adora." Princess Glimmer pushed her a little forward.

"And Sora" he waved again before stepping behind Adora and putting his hands on her shoulders, "And I'd like to vouch that she's a really nice person that wants to help people. Her path...just got away from her is all." He then added as a side note, "So now that they were just said side by side, our names sound incredibly alike. Kind of cool when you think about it, huh?"

"This is a royal court, I thought you knew what you were doing!" Adora loudly whispered.

Sora shrugged, "I said I'm friends with some princesses, I never said anything about knowing the royal duties or whatever."

She took in several deep breaths, trying not to panic. The queen didn't seem to give Sora much thought, and she still had Glimmer and Bow on her side. Who knows, maybe they'll find Sora's antics to be charming and endearing.

Adora got down on her knee and present her magical sword. "I know you have no reason to trust me or my friend Sora, but we've seen for ourselves the atrocities the Horde has committed against the people and lands of Etheria. It's all so wrong, I-it needs to be put to an end, and I want to help put a stop to it. I'm ready to serve you. If you give me a chance, I know I can turn the tides to help the Rebellion win this terrible war."

The queen looked taken back, almost unsure for a moment. Her daughter looked to her with pleading eyes. She then focused her attention to Sora. "What of you? Such unusual garbs, you don't look anything like a Horde Soldier. What are you doing here, hoping to accomplish?"

Sora pointed to himself, "Me? Crash landed, met Adora, kicked Horde butt together, and now I'm looking for two close friends of mine. Their names are Donald and Goofy. Donald is about yaye high, short tempered, a duck, and is also a powerful wizard. Goofy is this tall, overly kind, carries a shield, and is maybe some sort of dog I think? I've always been too afraid to ask, might make things really awkward fast. Anyway, I want to help too. As a recently certified hero, I can't let this go ignored!"

Everyone but Adora looked at him as though he was the oddest thing to have walk through the castle gate, ever. The queen put a hand to her temple, "I'm-I'm sorry, who are you exactly?"

"I'm Sora!" He walked up to her and shook her hand, that enticed a collective gasp from everyone that he went ignorant of. "This is my hero's license, here!" He pulled out a card he received from Phil after the Underdrome fiasco, and gave it to her. "Worked really hard to get that you know. Spent a whole year stuck with junior hero statues. Not anymore though! Full bonafide hero right here!" He put his hands at his hip heroically, "Also my friends and I tend to go place to place helping people out and making new friends along the way of our journey. Get into all sorts of fun adventures like that!"

Queen Angella raised a delicate eyebrow at him, "You are by far the most curious person I've ever met, and coming from me and my long life, that's quite the statement."

He batted his eyes at her, "Is that a compliment?"

Her cheeks turned a little red as she did her utmost best to not snort or laugh out loud, not here in front of her royal court during the historic moment of She-Ra's return. Something strangely curious about this boy indeed. She couldn't help but feel that she could this young man could be trust, that there was nothing but goodness in his heart that he wears on his sleeves. Despite all logical reasoning, she felt compelled to easily let this Sora join them.

She cleared her throat as she handed his card back to him, gently touching him to beckon him to line with the others. He understood the gesture and returned next to Adora. He seemed to have noticed Adora on her knee and was quick to mirror her. Queen Angella accepted the sword from the still waiting, and very much bewildered, Adora. "I...know of the warrior She-Ra. A legend from the First Ones. They said she would return to Etheria in its hour of our greatest need. To bring balance to the world. I always thought it was nothing more than a fairy tale, a myth. Yet, here she stands, in the uniform of a Horde Soldier."

Sora had to stop himself from interrupting to say 'former Horde Soldier' but thought better of it. He would have hated to have his speech interrupted.

"You would stand with us, against those you once served?"

Adora gave a heavy sigh before replying, "Yes, I would."

Queen Angella looked to her daughter, "Glimmer, you would vouch and take responsibility for Adora and her friend Sora? Accept any and all punishments that would befall them should they commit any crimes against us?"

Glimmer confidently replied "Yes. Er, at least Adora, Ah! I'm sorry, yes! I'll responsibility for both of them!" She was quick to correct herself.

"Then both of you, rise. The Rebellion accepts both of your allegiance, She-Ra, Princess of Power, and Sora-"

"Chosen Keyblade Wielder!" he filled her in.

"Ahem, Sora, Chosen Wielder of the Keyblade...Keyblade!" Queen Angella almost shouted out and in fact dropped She-Ra's Sword of Protection, to which Sora and Adora both caught it together before hitting the ground.

Sora stood back up, "Ya-huh, Keyblade. You've heard of it?" The Kingdom Key Flash into his hand. Many in the royal court gave a gasp at the sudden appearance of another magical sword.

She looked closely at the weapon, examining it with eyes in awe, "The legendary weapon said to be able to cast out Darkness and bring about Light?! I never dream it would be real! The old text said it is a weapon not even of this world."

"I mean, he did crash from space" Adora said without thinking. She looked bashful for a moment, "I suppose we should have mentioned that, too."

She looked back at the young man, barely a boy no longer. "You're not of this world?!"

Sora looked uncomfortable at that, "Uhhhhhhh, kind of, I guess. I mean I'm not supposed to tell anyone. Knowledge of other worlds' supposed to be a well kept secret...On that note, I don't suppose I could maybe barrow a really big cart so I can collect the pieces of my ship? Gotta figure out how to put it back together with Donald and Goofy's help once I find them and all the missing pieces."

The queen didn't know how she should feel right now, this was starting to become overwhelming. First the disappearance of her daughter, the return of mythical She-Ra whom formerly served the Horde, then the appearance of this legendary warrior just revealed the existence of other world, confirming the very real possibility that the First Ones could have in fact come another world and may possibly return one day. She was far from whelmed, but she was able to pull herself back together.

"Um, yes, of course. I'll send a team to your, err, crash site and collect the pieces if you show us on the map."

"Neat."

"Yes, um, neat."

"So wait!" Adora snapped as she stood up in front of Sora, "You're telling me, that you're a legendary warrior, too? I feel you could have mentioned that to me in your pep talk from earlier."

The boy, Bow, ran up to the two and gushed, "Wait, you're all saying that we have two super awesome heroes of legend that are gonna help us?! Sweet!"

Glimmer joined in, "And he's from space! You've got to tell us all about it!"

Sora bounced on his heels, "Yeah, yeah. But first, there's one thing I think we're all forgetting." He turned Adora around to face the court, placed an arm around her, and slowly pumping his fist in rythme of his chant, "SHE-RA, SHE-RA, SHE-RA, SHE-RA, SHE-RA!" And just like that, everyone began to cheer for the mighty She-Ra. "See? Told you everything would work out fine" he whispered to her.

Adora felt hot tears in her eyes at how well she was accepted. She thought it would have been almost impossible for her to earn her place, that she would be met with scorn and glare from everyone while she did her best to try and fix the terrible deeds of her once comrades. So much of her fears and anxiety melted away. She threw her arms around Sora, "Thank you so much for everything, Sora."

"Aww, like I said, that's what friends are for."

"Yes, group hug!" Bow threw arms around the two, before Glimmer joined in.

"Always a fan of those! I'm Sora!"

"I'm Princess Glimmer!"

"My name is Bow!"

Adora took a deep breathe and reveled in this feeling right now, "Adora."

* * *

Donald gave a frustrated sigh as he and Goofy sat on a small, rocky island that was barely big enough for the two of them to sit down on. It's been a few hours since they pulled themselves from their bit of the wrecked ship and swam to this nearby rock. With no nearby landmass in sight, they can only hope that a boat will pass by and rescue them before they attempted to swim out in search of land.

The magician could still see a bit of the bright orange hull of the Highwind from where he sat. Less than a hundred feet away and twenty feet down. It would be extremely important they remember this location if they hope to put the Gummi Ship back together and get off this world.

"Mmh, Gawrsh" Goofy let out a sigh of his own.

"About Sora still?" Donald asked knowingly.

"Yeah, I know you said not to worry, but I can't help it." This is a topic that's been nearly talked to death.

"And I keep telling you, Sora can take care of himself" Donald told Goofy as much as he told himself. Fortunately, it's hard to get much worse than this, aside from landing in the water as well with no land to wait on. Maybe crashing into an active volcano would do it to get that much worse. Still, Donald worried for him too, but they needed to keep their hopes up.

"I'd just feel better if the three of us were together. Then we'd know that nothin's too hard for us to-wait a moment...YAHOO-HOO-HOO-HOO! SHIP AHOY!" Goofy stood up and started jumping and waving.

Donald turned around and indeed a ship could be seen off in the horizon. "WE'RE SAVED! OVER HERE! HELP US!" The ship kept on going, perhaps too far to hear them.

"S.O.S. RIGHT OVER HERE!" Goofy kept trying. He turned to Donald in a panic. "Quick, we've got to do something!"

He thought of an idea, and he thought of it quick. Pulling his short staff out, Donald raised it to the air and called out " _Fira_!" He sent the ball of fire into the air until he willed it to explode like a firework. He did this several more times, and indeed the far off ship saw their distress signal and started heading their way.

Goofy was quick to throw Donald in the air and catch him in a hug, "You did it pal! We're saved!"

Usually this would be the part where Donald would try to shove him away for being to clingy, but right now he could care less as he cheered "Oh boy!"

Soon enough the ship came close enough, but not too close as to not run the ship aground with all the high rocks. It was an impressive looking dark grey ship. The bow looked avian and the sails were stylized to almost look like it's wings. A charming mustached man with a blue jacket and a red bandanna leaned on the rails and looked on to them. He looked like by the book's definition of a sea captain.

"My, my, aren't you two the most peculiar fellows? Impressive display of fireworks you had there. I don't suppose you two castaways are in need of rescuing?"

"Ahyuck! We sure are, sir! Think you can give us a hand?"

"Can I?" The man questioned, "Please, for I am the great Captain Sea Hawk! Brave adventure of the seas, there is little I can't do. Plus it would be great for business, returning back to port with you two would continue to further my reputation-er, oh. Nevermind that" He quickly changed the subject, "How did you two 'gents become shipwrecked here? I see no signs of ship, and we're too far away for you two to come here by a small boat."

"Actually our ship is right over there" Donald pointed to the orange and yellow hue nearby. "Don't suppose we could lift it on to your ship? It's not very big and the parts are still very much reusable."

Captain Sea Hawk put a thoughtful hand to his chin. "'Fraid not gentlemen. This ship doesn't deal with scavenging. I don't have the equipment to hull that up, and I'm afraid I'm not in the market for owning one at this time. Not quite my business, hope you understand."

"Gawrsh, are you sure?! That's our only way back home!"

Sea Hawk crossed his arms, "Sorry, I'm afraid that's how things go. Cheer up mates, I'm sure you two can find a ship heading in the right direction. Or it could take some time, but maybe you can raise enough money to purchase another vessel."

Donald gave a few stomps out of frustration, "A Phewy! We need that ship specifically to get back home! It's a very special ship."

"I know!" Goofy jumped, "How much for the right equipment? Maybe we can earn enough money to be able to hull it out ourselves if you're willin to help?"

Sea Hawk put another thoughtful hand to his chin, "Hmm, it would take some time and money, but perhaps scavenging on the side is an endeavor that could be most profitable." He then waved them on, "Why don't you two hop on aboard, we can talk more as we sail and once we get to port. I've got some jobs I need to run for a Princess and I'm short on hand. I can put you two to work from now and see how things will go."

"Aye aye Captain! Sounds like a plan to me!"

"Oh bother" Donald grumbled under his breath.

"Don't you worry, I know these seas like the back of my hand. We'll find this place again when we're ready." Donald and Goofy swam across the water before boarding the ship. "Now I believe I've introduced myself well and fairly, but I still haven't gotten your names.

"I'm Donald Duck."

"And I'm Goofy, ahyuck!"

"A pleasure 'gents, welcome aboard the Dragon's Daughter III. Now as you're apart of my crew, I'm happy to say: Ahoy! All crew to your positions! Goofy, you'll help me tend to the sails, Donald, you're on lookout duty! Move along boy, move long!"

The two moved to their positions, but not before commenting, "Wait, is it just the three of us?"

"Gawrsh, I guess so. Now I really wish Sora was here. He would have loved this!"


	2. Chapter 2

Night descended over the kingdom as Princess Glimmer guided Sora and Adora through Bright Moon Castle. Ecstatic wouldn't be enough to describe the young Princess's feeling right now. "Oh man, oh man! I still can't believe that mom's letting you two stay here in Bright Moon! Not you so much Sora, more Adora because of, her whole 'For the Horde!' thing...no offense!"

Adora gave a sigh, "No problem, I think?"

"Wow, this is pretty cool. I've visiting plenty of castles before, but I never could stick around long enough to stay the night at any of them" Sora commented aloud, happily looking at anything and everything.

Glimmer skipped ahead and kept pace in front of Sora while facing him, "So you've really met Princesses out on other worlds?! Now _that_ is amazing! You gotta tell me what they're like, like cool powers, what their subjects are like, the castles they live in, if they could even visit..." she continued to list off.

He thought to himself for a moment, "Well, a lot of them didn't have powers actually. That's not a very common thing really...althoooough, I can't help but feel that with this new adventure, things are gonna be pretty different." Sora hummed to himself, "So one of my favorite kingdoms to go visit is the underwater world of Atlantica. One of the princesses there is Ariel, she's a, or was, a mermaid. She turned herself into a human so she could marry a human prince she fell in love with. The last time I was there, I ended up doing a whole bunch of musicals, you know, singing and dancing. That was really fun!" Sora regaled them.

Glimmer looked at him starry eyes. "That. Is. So. Cool! And so dreamy and romantic!"

Adora thought about what he said, "But wait, how could you sing and dance underwater? That doesn't seem physically possible."

"Simple, my friends and I used magic to turn ourselves into underwater folk. I got turned into a merman" he explained as though it were so simple.

"You what?!" Adora asked.

"You what?!" Glimmer too, but her face was glowing red. "You can turn into a merman?! Can you do it now?!" At this point, she was positively glowing.

"Yeah, I can turn into a merman, but no, I can't do it now. It's actual Donald's magic that transforms us. I don't think I mentioned this before, but not only is Donald really good with his magic, he's the Royal Court's Wizard for another kingdom, and Goofy is their Captain of the Royal Guards. Hopefully if we find my friends, he could show off some of the things he can do...and maybe we can put on a show and sing some of our songs! I think we were really awesome last time!" Sora had to reel back his excitement. He always got like this when he thought about singing, Donald was even worse about it.

Adora crossed her arms at that. "Wait, I don't get it. What's the big deal about singing?"

"Because singing's fun!"

She blew at her hair, "But I mean, what is singing even? Isn't it just talking, but loud and weirdly?"

Glimmer and Sora looked at her with surprise, "Not knowing what a party is was one thing, but they don't even have singing in the Horde?!"

Sora looked at Glimmer in surprise, "She didn't know what partying was?!"

"No!"

Sora placed both of his hands on his cheeks and looked at Adora with a gasped look, mouth opened like a fish. He held it up for several moments before he got smacked on the shoulder. "Shut up!"

The three laughed together, Sora always enjoyed the small fun moments like these. With so many of them, it's like the fun never ended with how many people he meets and befriends. He noticed a group of three soldier guards huddled together and whispering to each other. It was hard to hear, but he did hear the name 'Adora.' He looked at her, it seems she heard them, too, as her good mood seemed to have dampened.

Sora smiled to himself as he thought of what to do next. He grabbed Adora's hand and led her back to the guards. "Hey, were you guys talking about Adora? Isn't she totally amazing?! She's also super nice, here let's introduce ourselves!"

His actions, as expected, took everyone present by surprise. Glimmer looked at them all quizzically, not quite catching what was happening or what was whispered. The guards looked bashful and embarrassed at having been caught talking poorly of the fledgling heroine, and said heroine was mortified at the situation and was doing everything she could to escape Sora's grasp.

"What, no! I'm not really amazing! We really don't have to talk if you guys aren't feeling up to it." She then whispered harshly, "Just what do you think you're doing?! This isn't helping me!"

He looked at her questioningly for a moment, as though it was one of the oddest things he's ever heard. "Don't be ridiculous! It's always fun making new friends." Sora looked to the guards, who still didn't know what they should do. "Hey, did you guys want to try being friends? Always more room for everyone to join in on the fun!"

Adora gritted her teeth, if he was gonna be ridicules about the whole thing, then so would she. She jumped on his back, slapped her hand across his mouth, crossed her legs around his midsection and kicked him. "So sorry about bothering you guys! We'll just go and leave you alone now. Won't happen again!" Then with all of her strength, she leaned and pulled him in the direction they were originally walking.

Sora's arms flailed as he barely kept his balance. "Hmhgfm Mggmff mmhmffm!" He managed to remove her hand before they went around the corner, "Sorry about her! She's still new at making friends and she's shy!"

Adora became as red as a tomato, "SORA!"

Princess Glimmer couldn't keep her fits of laughter to herself anymore, "Oh my gosh, you two are so funny together! This is way better than anything the jesters could come up with! If you guys weren't busy being legendary heroes, you'd make the the best comedy acts!"

"Hey, _that_ was not funny, it was embarrassing!"

Sora laughed it off and motioned for her to get off of him, "Come on, it was at least a little funny. Besides, I was only trying to help you talk to some new people, make some new friends."

She crossed her arms defensively, "Well, maybe I'm not ready for that level of socializing, ever think of that. Especially when those guys were, well, you know…"

That stopped Glimmer, "Wait, those guards were what?" She didn't like where this was going.

Sora continued on, "Well, I mean, from their prospective you were an enemy Horde Soldier just yesterday, now suddenly you're on their side. I can imagine it being kind of confusing and not the most comfortable thing for them."

Adora rubbed her arm, "Yeah, I shouldn't really expect more, should I?"

"That's why you gotta talk to people, so they know that not only are you not the bad guy, but also their friend and that you really wanna help them is all."

His words didn't really seem to make her feel much better. Glimmer took her hand, "Don't worry, Adora, we'll get there. In the meantime, you got me, Bow, and Sora to help you out."

"And Donald and Goofy when we find them!" Sora added.

The Princess nodded at that, "So relax a little. Things are only gonna get better from here on out...and for starters, it's time to show you to your new room!" she yelled before dragging her along the hallway with Sora following. They soon came to a stop at a door.

"Welcome to your new room!" Glimmer practically kicked the door down as she led Sora and Adora into the very spacious and luxurious room. "It's got everything a girl would need, you know, standard stuff such as: bathroom, vanity, crystal ball, bell pull, tea nook, more crystals, bed, desk, and of course waterfall. All standard really, nothing special."

Sora and Adora's jaws practically left a crack on the ground from where their jaws had dropped. Sora, in all of his adventures, had never seen something so, so, so...fancy! Poor Adora couldn't even figure out what half of the things she was just told were, let alone accept that this was her own room.

Sora was the first to snap out of it first, "Wow, I mean, whoa! But why the, and the ceiling is so high. Then there's the waterfall, why would you have that in here?!"

Adora tried to shake her head clear, "I don't know, wait, is the waterfall for bathing, like showering or something? Or do Princesses have something different?"

Glimmer gave a snort, "Ha ha, you're so funny Adora. I mean it, you and Sora gotta one day put a routine for everyone!" She wiped a tear from her eye. "Also you're right across the hall from me if you ever need anything."

Sora slapped himself in the face to finally get over the room. "Alrighty, so do I get a room too? Hopefully something more efficient instead?" he mumbled the last part to himself.

Princess Glimmer put a thoughtful finger to her chin, "Right, I had this room planned out since we decided that She-Ra would be the greatest thing to happen to us" she gave a little squeal, "Plus it's right across from my room." She cleared her throat as she noticed the two tilt their heads at her, "Right, I know I can think of something. There is always plenty of room in the castle, but not anymore in this wing however. Let's see the next closest wing would be, but no, the rooms are filled and lead too far. Hmm, how about…"

As Glimmer was trying to come up with a decision, Adora waved her arms in panic to get Sora's attention. When he looked her way, she desperately whispered to him, "Please don't leave me alone in here! This is way too much for me to handle by myself." Sora nodded and waited for the right moment to insert himself in Glimmer's dialog.

"Wait, I think I got it. Yup, I know, wait, no. How about-"

Sora interrupted, "Um, actually, I think I can figure something out pretty easily. Like you said, plenty of space everywhere, I can get myself taken care off."

The Princess scratched her cheek, "Um, are you sure? Might take a bit more thinking, but I'm sure I can get something figured out."

Sora waved her off, "Nah, if there is as much room as you say there is, I'm sure someone could easily point me to an empty room. I'm okay with the servants' quarters too, even."

Glimmer looked almost offended, "Well don't let it come to that! If my mom finds out you stayed in the servant's quarters, she'll yell my ear off again."

He reassured her as he laughed, "Don't worry, I won't let it come to that."

The young Princess gave a tired yawn, "So anything else you guys want to see? There's so much more of the castle left to see!"

Sora gave her a smile, "Nah, it sounds like you're pretty tired. The castle will be around tomorrow, I bet. We can finish the tour then, and Bow can be around too."

Glimmer gave another yawn, "Yeah, too much excitement all at once doesn't sound the best, plus the more the merrier. Good thinking Sora. I think it's about time for bed." She turned and headed for the door.

"But you know what?" Adora spoke up, stopping her from leaving, "You could hangout in here tonight. We all stay together, it'll be fun right? We can still hangout, sure, maybe share the bed, but it'll be fun." You can hear a bit of desperation in her voice.

Glimmer gave her back a bit of a stretch, "Maybe next time, but right now my bed is calling to me, and I can't ignore it. Sora will keep you company for now, though. G'night you two." And as with her namesake, the princess disappeared in a shower of glimmers.

Sora blinked once, twice, three times at the fact. "So wait, has she always been able to just teleport like that?"

"Yeah, I guess. Princesses, what can you say?" she said with a shrug. Adora's shoulders then dropped and she looked very uncomfortable.

Sora moved and sat her down on the bed before joining her. "So what's up. You don't like being alone?" he asked, referring her trying to get both him and Glimmer to stay over.

Adora felt comfortable enough to at least share a small bit about herself, "It's just...in all my memories, I've never slept alone. There would be at least always half a dozen of us in bunks. I mean here and there during training exercise we would have to camp out all alone and forage for food, but those were single nights, and I knew what I was getting myself into. This, all of this, is just way too different."

"Man, this would be real different compared to before, I'm sorry" Sora empathized with her.

"...I don't suppose...you could stay here tonight, could you?" she asked nervously.

He gave an enthusiastic nod, "Sure I can. It'll be just like a sleepover. Or if you're ready for bed, we can save the games for tomorrow night."

"I think tonight I'm ready for bed. The past couple of days have been really exhausting." Adora kicked her shoes off before looking at the overstuffed bed. "Great, just how am I supposed to do this?"

Sora gave a shrug, "I don't know, just lay on it? That's what most people do."

She scrunched up her face, "Okay, let's do this." She crawled on the bed towards the center, each step she would sink in far deeper than she'd expect. Once in the middle, she tossed herself on her back successfully. "Alright, that wasn't so bad!"

Sora had to suppress a chuckle, "I mean, it's a bed, what were you expecting it to do?"

Adora did let out a laugh, "I don't know, right? I mean, it's not as though Princesses and rebels are weird alien creatures that sleep any differently!" As soon as those words left her lips, she sunk at least another foot deeper into the mattress. "Okay! Too deep, too deep, aboard! ABOARD!" She panicked as she struggled to get out of bed.

"Okay, yeah!" Sora agreed with her, "That looks way too fluffy!" He gave her his hand to pull her out, with her grip though, he almost got pulled in too. He was able to right her again and pull her to the edge of the bed.

Adora took a few deep breaths, "That was terrifying!"

"Look, here, all we have to do is flatten it." Sora started to pound and smooth out the mattress. His efforts didn't really do much.

Adora was quick to join in. "Come on, flatten. Flatten already you stupid thing!" She was far more fierce and tougher than Sora was.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Not too hard or else-!" It was too late. Adora's pounding and hitting had eventually made the the seams tear and feathers were sent all around. "Or else that."

Adora blinked in confusing, "Did I just kill a bed?"

"Well...yeah, kind of."

She let out another sigh, "It's just one thing after another when I'm involved it seems. What do we do now? Go to Glimmer? She said if we needed anything-"

Sora didn't let her finish her train of thoughts, knowing where it's going, "Let's not do that yet. She's pretty tired, too. Besides, we can work with this. Feathers, I say we leave that till morning. For now-" Sora grabbed all the huge pillows off the bed and threw them to the floor. He then grabbed the thick top cover and threw that down on top of the bundle. Lastly, he grabbed and placed the silky bed sheet. "Ta-da! Makeshift bed!"

Adora smiled, now this looked like a luxury bed by her standards.

* * *

Adora grogerly opened her eyes as the morning sunlight hit her face from where she laid down. Even so, she felt rather well rested. It took her a moment to acclimate to her surroundings, she almost panicked in the unfamiliar room, before remembering the events that led her here. No wonder she felt so rested, after everything that happened, she slept like a rock. She hadn't done that since first few days of boot camp.

She then remembered about her bunkmate that always shared the same bed with her since childhood. Before she thought of anything else, she was wracked with depression, Catra, her bunkmate and best friend, choose to side with the Horde instead of her. Her best friend didn't choose her, after everything they went through together.

She felt her eyes well up before she sucked it back up. Catra made her choice, and so did she. All she can do next time they meet is to try even harder to convince her to join her side.

Shaking her head out of it, she looked for her new bunkmate, but she didn't see any sign of his spiky brown hair or large shoes. What were up with those anyway? She saw his feet, they were a little bigger than hers, sure, but not nearly large enough to warrant shoes that big. Maybe some sort combat superiority element to have shoes that large she didn't know about. Could help grip to the ground for stronger swings possibly?

Wait, wait, she's getting sidetracked. Sora isn't in the room. Did he leave already? She would have definitely preferred having him or someone around right now. This whole situation has had her feeling completely out of her elements and too vulnerable, and a friend would have come a long way in making her feel better.

"What was I expecting? Someone to hold my hand the entire time?" She walked up to the vanity and looked herself in the mirror, "Come on Adora, you can handle this. You're She-Ra now, a legendary warrior meant to kick all sorts of ass. Are you gonna let being so far away from home make you pathetic? 'Oh boo-hoo, Adora is all alone outside the Freight Zone.' Cry me a river!"

Feeling fully and utterly pumped, she went and pulled her shoes on, splashed water on her face, and walked out her bedroom door with her back straight and head up. She took several long steps, feeling full of herself before she found herself almost walking right into the Queen. She almost tripped over herself as she stopped herself from smacking into her. Immediately she felt all of the confidence she built up wilt away and die under Queen Angella's intense gaze.

"O-oh, Your Majesty, sorry about that. About almost walking into you, you here the middle of the hallway, or er. Hmm." Adora suddenly bowed, remembering that proper formalities should still be met, even as She-Ra. "Good morning Queen Angella! Fine morning it is today, isn't it? What brings you here?" She wanted to smack herself at how stupid she was acting.

The Queen's gaze lingered on her a moment longer before looking at the mural just to the side of them. "Often, when I feel the weight of the day and all of my burdens slow me down, I come here." An illuminate glow radiated from her hand and shed light on the mural's depiction. It was a regal looking man with a large staff in hand.

"Who is that?"

"King Micah...my husband."

"Oh, that's right. Most people have mothers and fathers. He must be Glimmer's dad, I haven't seen him around yet."

Angella's eyes narrowed as the Queen's gaze returned to Adora, this time looking much colder. "My love was one of the very first casualties of the Horde."

She felt her blood turn into ice as those words left the Queen's lips. She had no idea that this happened. What in the world was she supposed to say?"

"I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Adora." She was now realizing how tall the regal woman was as she loomed over her. "My daughter has much confidence in you, she believes that you will aid us in our time of need." Queen Angella bent down to match eye level with her, "She has vouched for you and your friend, despite your background, so I'm willing to give you a chance. Do not disappoint her, and most importantly, _do_ _not_ disappoint me." With that, the turned around and strode off.

Adora wasn't too sure why, but she wanted to find a nice, isolated spot and roll herself into a fetal position. This must be what Catra always felt like after a tongue lashing from Shadow Weaver. Feeling chills run down her body, she turned around and headed back to her room. She opened the door and looked inside, hoping for some kind of clue of what she should do next. There were none. Closing the door, she looked at another door right behind her. Glimmer's room.

She tiptoed to the door and carefully opened it and poked her head inside. Adora whispered quietly, "Glimmer, are you awake?"

No response.

She tried whispering much louder, "Glimmer! Glimmer!" She heard a snort before she saw movement on the Princess's floating bed. She was still asleep it seems.

Looking down both ends of the hallway and seeing nobody, Adora let herself inside the room. Looking at the floating stepping stones, she quietly hopped from one small platform to the next. Reaching the top, she looked at the sleeping girl and contemplated on her next move. Taking a silent deep breathe, Adora gave her a light tap on the shoulders and breathed out her name, "Glimmer."

Nothing. Had this been one of her former fellow cadets or Catra, she may have shoved them completely out of bed and gave out some stern words. Now, she felt so nervous and intimidated. Hugging her arms together, Adora settled for waiting the smaller girl to wake up on her own.

* * *

"So we are still heading in the right direction, right?" Bow asked as he and a guard moved a fallen tree log out of the way of the wagon's path.

"Pretty sure. Like I said the last three times, we flew through the area, so things look pretty different down here on ground side" Sora answered as he and another guard pulled the wagon through.

Early in the morning, Sora was approached by some guards and informed him that the cart was prepared and tried to have him point on the map where the crash site was. Sora couldn't figure out where on the map it was, and instead he insisted on joining to help collect the Gummi parts as well as lead the group. It was on their way out of Bright Moon that Sora was met by Bow. He had spent a lot of time in the Whispering Woods while growing up and considered one of the more knowledge people when it came to navigating through the constantly changing forest.

"And you said it was at a some half buried castle?" the armored woman next to him asked.

"Yeah-uh."

"That no one's ever seen or heard of?" the other guard continued.

"How am I supposed to know?! I just landed here from space!" Sora complained, "You're trying to make it sound as though I'm crazy, aren't you?!"

Bow tried to defuse the situation, "Hey, hey, calm down everyone. Tensions are a little high, sure, we've been at this for a few hours now. No need to turn a pond into an ocean." His words helped a little. "Sora, these woods might not be the most explored, I'll admit, but I'm sure we would have known there was a castle around here." Sora pouted at that as the guards looked a bit smug, "Although, if it is half buried, that would be a real good explanation of why we don't know about it. I mean Princess Glimmer and I found an untouched temple when we first met Adora." Sora stuck his tongue out at the two women who grumbled to themselves.

"I bet if we find Madame Razz, we'll be able to find that castle in no time" Sora suggested.

"Madame Razz?"

"The crazy old lady Adora and I met."

Bow scratched his head at that, "Yeah, that's not really helping your case, man."

Sora held his arms up, "Hey, she was the nut job, not me." The woman next to him gave him a glare. Sora realized he was making her pull the wagon along by herself. "Sorry."

Bow motioned for everyone to halt. "Why don't we stop here for now. Sora, what if you and me go on ahead to try to find this Razz? Make our lives a little easier."

"Don't you mean 'you and I?'" Sora wiggled his eyebrows.

Bow narrowed his eyes at him, before he yelped, "I said make our lives easier!"

"Sorry, bad joke."

Almost twenty minutes of searching in the forest, Sora and Bow came across a hut built into a large tree. Just near the front door, an elderly woman was sweeping dirt and debris out of her home.

"Hi Razz!" Sora approached her.

The old woman turned around and pointed her broom at him threatening, "Who are you, what do you want?! I'm not interested in any magazines!"

Sora blinked in confusion, "Um, it's me, Sora. We met yesterday. We fought Horde Soldiers, you, me and Adora."

Razz gave him a queer look.

"We also helped Ado-errr, we helped Mara with some of her issues in her heart. After you two went berry picking."

"Ah, yes, that's right! You're the boy with the smart noggin."

Sora leaned towards Bow, "She called me smart."

"Coming from a coo coo head, that doesn't mean much" he retorted.

"You're just jelly cause you haven't been called smart lately, I bet."

"No!" he crossed his arms, 'He must never know.'

"Yes, yes, Sora was your name. You're looking for your friends, any luck?" Razz asked.

"Nothing yet, but it's only been a day, so I still got high hopes I'll find them soon." Razz nodded. "I don't suppose you could point to us where's that castle place was? The place where I met you and Mara?"

Bow blinked as he realized something, "Wait, who's Mara?"

"I'll explain later."

Madame Razz tapped her chin in thought, "Hmm, I don't recall any castle, but I do remember that garden where the best berries grow. Do you mean there?"

Sora clapped and pointed, "Yeah, that's the place. Could you tell us?"

Razz gasped in horror, "I'll never tell you where. You want to know so you can have all the berries to yourself, don't you?!"

"What, no! My friends have a cart nearby so we-"

"-Can take all the berries, I won't let you. Broom, attack!" Razz started swinging her broom at him, hitting Sora multiple times over the head. Bow openly pointed and laughed at him before Razz turned her ire on him, "Don't think I'll let you get away with all the berries!"

"Come on, Razz. Don't you remember, we're friends." Sora pleaded as Razz started hitting him again. "I'd never take anything from you, especially not without your permission. I won't take your berries, I promise. I left some of my stuff behind because it was too much to carry. That's why we brought a wagon."

His words hit home as Razz put her broom down. She let out a sigh, "You're right, Broom, I'm not being a very good friend, am I? A good friend should be happy to share." Razz gave Sora a soft pat on his arm, "If you promise to keep being a good friend to my Mara, I'll tell you where. You better share those berries with Mara, cause if I find out…" she left the threat in the air.

Sora gave her a broad smile, "Not that I'm going to collect berries, but if I do pick some, I'll definitely share with Mara."

Bow mouthed to himself 'Who the heck is Mara.'

"Good, good, very good. Then you just want to go that way, you should find it in no time."

* * *

Glimmer gave a yawn as her hand reached her eyes to rub, her hands felt a lot rougher than usual. She noticed she had her gloves on before looking down at the rest of herself. "Did I fall asleep with my clothes on?" She rolled over, debating on whether or not she should get up. That's when a symbol she learned to fear her whole life took up her vision.

"THE HORDE!" she screamed as she tried to scramble away. It was only when she was halfway to the ground she remembered that her bed was suspended high in the air. It was also after she hit the ground she remembered that she had teleporting abilities that are practically first nature to her. "Oww~."

Glimmer blinked again, "Wait, Horde? Horde!" she shouted again.

"Glimmer, are you okay?!" Adora looked down at her on her bed.

She blinked twice as she began to remember the events of the past couple of day. It was almost like a dream she nearly forgot about. "Adora, is that you? What are you doing in here?!"

"Yeah...sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. You said that if I needed anything, well..." Adora left it there.

Glimmer rubbed her lower back from the fall before appearing right next to her. "No, it's okay. It's not your fault. I was so tired after everything, I was out like a rock, brain had some catching up to do after I woke up." She tried to laugh it off.

Adora did not look like she was in a laughing mood. "Hey, you're in here, did you need something? Is everything okay?"

She let out a deep moan, "Auugh, I ran into your mom, and I'm pretty sure she hates me. I woke up alone and Sora was gone and I got scared because all of this is sooo, Auugh!"

"What, no! My mom loves you!"

"No, she loves She-Ra. Adora on the other hand is a Horde Soldier, and I think she made it very clear she's keeping her eye on me."

Glimmer's head swayed side to side, "Err, mom can be intense sometimes...wait, Sora was gone? What's that supposed to mean...did he stay with you last night?!" Her face began to turn a beet red.

Adora did understand where she was heading towards, she continued, "Yeah, I asked him to stay with me last night. I've never slept alone before, I tried asking you, too."

The Princess instantly deflated at that, "Oh...Oh! I'm so sorry. Last night I didn't realize."

Adora let out a depressing sigh, "For the Horde or not, I'm a soldier. I'm supposed to be tough, tactical, strong, but ever since all...this! I've been so out of my element that it feels like I need everybody to hold my hand through it. This suck."

Glimmer had a small smile as she put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, even by our standards all of this is crazy and new. Also we're friends now. Friends help each other out when they really need it."

Adora couldn't stop her own smile, "Yeah...that's what Sora kept saying yesterday, too. Thanks Glimmer."

"So Sora was gone this morning? When and where do you think he went?"

She gave a shrug, "I'm not sure, like you I was out like a rock." Adora gave her a playful jab on the shoulder, "It's like you said, all of this has been real crazy!"

"...So hey, I don't think I mentioned this last night, but our weekly meeting with the Rebellion Generals is today. We can join in and make a good impression on everyone else. That will help I'm sure. Besides, we have official invitations from mom. She wouldn't have done that if she didn't some faith in you, right?"

Adora looked a little bit more hopeful. "You think?"

"Yeah I do! So until then, let get breakfast. I'm starving!"

* * *

As Sora and his party returned to Bright Moon from the Whispering Woods, everyone parted ways for them. All of them in some sort of shock or awe as they watched them pass by with the wagon. They were even unimpeded when they reached the castle gates. The guard's jaws only dropped as they watch them go by their posts.

"So you said the courtyard I can use is where?" Sora asked a miserable looking Bow.

"We just keep going straight, we'll see it soon. It's divided into four sections, the Westside is the one you can use." Bow's voice was deadpan.

"Oh come on, Bow. Let's see that smile! I'm gonna get you to smile, I'm gonna get you to smile!" Sora made silly faces to try to get him to crack a smile. Bow barely batted an eye. "Hey, how was I supposed to know to all that would happen?!"

"...I got set on fire."

"Wasn't my fault!"

"OH MY GOD! BOW, SORA, WHAT HAPPENED?!" Up on one of the balconies Glimmer and Adora looked down at them in disbelief. Sora and Bow looked beat up, Bow in particular was covered in soot, the two guards trailed behind them looking exhausted, and a giant decapitated robot insect head had it's pincers clamped down of the wagon! Wires trailed behind as it leaked some sort of oil and iccor mix behind them.

"Mission complete! Got all the Gummi pieces from the crash site! We may have ran into a small issue though."

"SMALL?!" Bow shouted.

Glimmer grabbed hold of Adora before teleporting themselves down next to them. Adora looked at the disgusting, yet familiar head. "Wait, is that the-?"

"-Yes!"

"From when we-?" Glimmer tried.

"-Still yes! It came back for revenge!" Bow almost cried out.

Sora waved it off, "We're fine~!"

"How are you still not freaked out by this?!" Bow shouted.

"We're fine~!" he waved it off again.

He shook his head in disbelief, "Just what have you fought off before landing here?"

Sora burst out laughing for ten full seconds before shaking his head, "Oh man, so, soooo much worse than this." He started chuckling again. The trio and the nearby guards didn't know whether to be amazed or horrified at that.

"Just what happened?!" Glimmer asked again.

Sora and Bow looked to each other. Bow did not look like he was at all interested in retelling the story. "Well, it started when we found the castle..."

~Flashback~

"Wow, a castle!" Bow exclaimed.

~End Flashback~

"The Gummi Ship was just how we left it…"

~Flashback~

"Wow, a real spaceship!"

~End Flashback~

"And then…"

~Flashback~

"We're all gonna die!" As the giant robot bug loomed over Sora, Bow, and the two guards.

~End Flashback~

"So we…"

~Flashback~

"Kill it with fire!" Sora yelled as he casted balls of fire in the machine's direction.

~ End Flashback~

"So after that…"

~FlashBack~

An exhausted and scorched Bow stood next to Sora as the Keyblade Wielder heroically posed with his fists on his hips. "Alright Mister Bow...Let's. Go. Home!"

~End FlashBack~

"..."

"..."

"...Wow. You are terrible at retelling stories."

"Fine then! You tell them what happened!"

The two girls looked to Bow expectantly. He rolled his eyes, "Fine. So, after that coo coo lady gave us the right directions…"

~Flashback...but for real this time!~

Bow and the two guards couldn't believe their eyes. It was just as Sora and Adora said, a once huge now half buried castle stood in the middle of the forest.

"See, told you so" Sora rubbed in.

Bow held his hands up defensively, "Hey, first of all, never took sides. If anything I defended the possibility of this place being here."

"I know, but…" Sora turned around and stuck his tongue out at the guards. The moment their back was turned, one of the women stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

"And I'm guessing that those brightly colored chunks are your ship?"

"Yeah-uh"

Bow couldn't help but get a little excited, "Wow, a real spaceship. I never ever dreamed of seeing one...not quite what I was expecting though." He eyed the oddly bright colors.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing, too, when I first saw it. Had a lot of fun flying that thing."

"Hey! Do you think it's possible that we could fly it once it's all put together?!"

Sora scratched his head, "Well, I wouldn't say it's impossible, but Donald gets real finicky when it comes to flying the Gummi Ship."

Bow tapped his chin in thought, "So hey, which one was Donald again? The tall one or the short one?"

"The short one, why?"

"Why else?! So I can be super nice to him when we first meet so maybe I can convince him to let me fly!" Bow got a giddy, "I mean, imagine all the advance technology on that thing. I may have not mentioned it before, but I am a total tech nut!"

Sora got a laugh out of that, thinking back to how he first met Tron. "Yeah, I tried to figure that kind of stuff out, but I'm really terrible at it." He looked around the crash site, "Well, think we should get at it?"

Bow and the two guards agreed and got straight to work. Sora made sure to let them know to let him handle the larger chunks of the ship, as to make sure the pieces don't fall apart any further. They were mostly done with only about a dozen pieces left when a shaking caused them to halt.

"...What was that?" one of the guards asked.

The other guard answered "Don't know, but I got a bad feeling about this."

Sora slapped his face, "Great, something big is guaranteed to happen now."

Bow immediately thought of the very first thing he, Glimmer and Adora encountered next to the First Ones' temple. "Hey Sora, I don't suppose you and Adora saw any kind of monster when you were here last?"

"No, why?"

Heavy thumping was felt as a giant, six eyed insectoid came bursting out the ground and let out a high pitched roar.

"That's why!" Bow quickly pulled out his name sake and shot forth an arrow. Close to impact, the arrowhead exploded and launched a sticky substance that covered its mouth. The bug monster stopped its charge as it tried to pry its mouth open and resorted to using the ground and nearby trees to try to tear the sticky solution off.

"Okay, that should buy us a few precious moments so we can get the heck out of here!"

Sora gaped at the boy, "What?! No way are we leaving without the Gummi pieces!"

"We'll try to grab them another day! I've seen this thing before and it is gonna tear us apart!" Bow argued.

Sora hardly needed a moment to think about it. "Alright, here's the plan: while I fight and distract this thing, you guys finish grabbing the rest of the parts and get out of here. I'll follow you guys after."

"By yourself?!"

"He's crazy!"

"Dude, there is no way you can fight this thing off by yourself." Bow's words fell on deaf ears.

"Alright, so we agree on the plan? Break!" Sora turned around, summoned his Keyblade, and ran head first towards the giant bug as it was finally breaking free from its restraints.

Bow and the guards looked to each other, hoping an answer will come along and tell them what to do next. None of them were leaders and the only plan given seemed too crazy to follow. Bow gave out a high pitched whine.

"Okay, fine! You guys heard the plan! Finish grabbing everything, I'm gonna give Sora supporting fire!" He turned on his heels as the two women went to grab what's left of the ship. He instantly saw Sora on the creature's back, almost riding it like a beast of burden, before striking down on its back. The monster let out a squeal.

"Suppressing fire!" Bow launched one arrow after another, each one delivering a different payload then the last. The first arrow burst into finely knotted rope that tangled two of it four left legs that made it stumble, but not fall.

Sora used his momentum to jump off it's back and land in front of his face to deliver a powerful strike to it head. As its maw opened to bite down, his second arrow launched the same sticky substance as before, though his aim was not as true as before, only partially covering its face and hardly his jaw. This gave Sora enough edge to avoid its large bite before landing three more strikes to its head.

Bow's third arrow launched and released a light yellow liquid that coated the creature's left side and followed up with a flaming arrow. The arrow missed and struck uselessly at it's armored leg. Understanding Bow's attempt, Sora circled around after striking under its chin before launching a large fireball at its side.

" _Fira_!"

Instantly the liquid lit up and an explosion followed, knocking the creature down onto its side, and created a backdraft that showered them in hot embers. Sora was able to quickly shrug it off, but Bow quickly got burnt by it all and had to stop before dropping to the ground and roll around.

"Bow!" Sora was quick to notice his friend. With one more look at the creature he threw his Keyblade at it like buzzing saw blade that cracked its underside. He was soon standing over Bow. "Hang on, _Cure_!" A bell shaped flower bloomed over his head and showered the young man in green energy, stopping the burning sensation and quickly healed away the pain and injury.

Bow blinked quickly in surprise, realizing he wasn't being burnt anymore. "Whoa, you can do magic?! You never mentioned that!"

"Yup, yup, a wizard taught me! Let's get back to it!" he hurried along as the bug monster began to get back up. Its side where the explosion was set off was heavily cracked and broken, but instead of seeing nasty bug guts, they were met with the sight of mechanical parts and live wires.

"Wait, that thing is a machine?!" Bow yelled, the thoughts of wanting to study the thing almost finished crossing his mind before he shook himself out of it.

"Wait, a machine?! I got an idea, watch this! _Thunder_!" Sora thrusted his Keyblade in the air...nothing happened. "Umm, I said _Thunder_!" Nothing happened still. Realization was now rearing its head at him, "Aw man! Don't tell me I've got relearn most of my magic all over again!"

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Bow panicked.

"Yada yada, stuff happened. Now I'm back to square one. So that means I'm gonna go back there and start smacking it around some more!"

"Wait, hold on!" He stopped Sora before he could take his third step. "I have an idea, if you can distract it long enough, I could get underneath and gunk up its systems with one of my foam arrows. Think you can do that?"

Sora gave him a thumbs up before running at the insectoid machine. Unfortunately the fiery explosion had burned away the rope binding two of its legs, returning its full mobility. It let out a loud, angry screech as it began to swing its frontal legs at Sora. With well timed parries and dodges, Sora made several counter strikes at its head and neck. The machine eventually made an opening and struck out with its head and pincers, Sora got caught and had to hold both his arms out to catch the sharp blades and hold them off before he managed to shove himself out of the way. Sora rolled over on the ground before he looked up just in time to get bash into the air and into a downed temple column.

Throughout the engagement, Bow made sure to stay as directly behind the insectoid as possible as he crept closer. He had managed to make it underneath the machine and took aim just as it knocked Sora away. Watching Sora soar through the air, he quickly noticed that the giant was looking directly at him. He let out a panicked yelp as he let his arrow fly fruitlessly and hopped away in time as a leg tried to step on him. He did his best to ignore the irony of a giant bug trying to squash a puny human as he evaded the many legs while trying to take aim. Bow found his moment and shot his foam arrow. Success. The machine almost halted for a moment as foam filled its insides. While its movements were at a crawl, it still made an attempt to stab at him with its legs. Bow easily moved away and shot another foam arrow into its exposed belly.

Sora returned to the fight and watched as the insectoid began to freeze up and sparks flew from its head and joints. "Okay, time to end this for good!" Sora spun his Keyblade before dashing forward and with one swift stroke, decapitated the head off. Bow got away as the massive body collapsed in a heavy heap.

Bow let out a heavy sigh, "*Phew* I can't believe we actually got through that alive and won!" He wiped his forehead of sweat.

Sora stretched his sore back, "Hmm, man, that was a fun challenge, huh? Think we'll run into another one of those things?"

"Man, I hope not! You really found that fun?"

"Heh, it could have been way worse. It could have been just you or me by ourselves fighting it with no help. Thanks for the help, good teamwork."

Bow rubbed the back of his neck, "Nah, I'm sure you could have won this thing by yourself sooner or later. I got worried when that thing hit you, but you seem pretty okay. My arrows were so-so useful."

Sora looked surprise before shaking his head, "No way! If it wasn't for your arrows, we'd never make it explode the way it did. And if it wasn't for that foam, there would be no way I'd slice its head off like that so easily! You helped a lot."

Bow smiled before getting a little excited, "Yeah, that was so cool how you just went *ZING* and cut it clean off!...Yeah, I guess we did make a pretty good team there."

The two guards began to approach with the wagon now that the danger had passed. "You two good?" Sora asked.

"Yes, no trouble with us."

"I also double checked the area. We've collected all the pieces of your ship in this area."

"Neat!"

"Alright, so do we rest up, or do we head back?" Bow asked the group.

"Well, I'm not feeling too bad. If everyone's up for it, I'd love to get back and get some grub. Eggs are sounding pretty good to me!" Sora answered.

The guards didn't move to argue. "Guess we head back then."

"If you want to rest up on the wagon, you'll get no complaints from me" Sora threw out there.

"Yeah, maybe."

Sora looked to the decapitated head, "Think we can bring this back as a souvenir?"

"Yeah, no. That thing is way too big!"

Sora climbed on top of the head and played with the pincers, "'Come on, Bow, take me with you to show off to everyone! It would make me real happy!'" Sora said in a silly voice, but Sora must have triggered something, because the pincers clamped down hard and bit into the wagon, leaving a deep dent. "Oops."

Sora tried to pry it, but it seemed jammed and refused to open. He looked up at the group before blinking. A big silly smile broke out on his face, "Souveniiiirrrr?!"

The three of them looked at Sora with disbelief before letting out an exhausted sigh. Where all that energy and enthusiasm came from, they'll probably never find out.

~End Flashback~

Princess Glimmer and Adora looked at them with jaws hanging. Glimmer shook off her stupor, "And you all thought it was still an okay idea to drag that thing's head through Bright Moon and scare everyone?!"

Bow pointed at Sora with his thumb, "Well, he said if he tried any harder to pry it open, he'd have broken the whole cart."

"Hey, it's not my fault that this thing is clamped down so hard!"

"No, but it's your fault it clamped down in the first place!"

Sora opened his mouth to retort again, but couldn't think of anything, "Yeah, no. You're right. My bad. Total accident, that's all I can say."

Both Sora and Bow's stomachs made themselves known at that moment. "Whelp, I'm up for food. Anyone else?"

"Best idea I've heard all morning."

Glimmer sighed, "Well, we're on our way their now."

"To breakfast!" Sora and Bow stuck their fist up together. Adora and slowly Glimmer joined them, too.

"Then the War Council."

"Then War Council!" they all remained in position for a moment longer. Sora and Bow's stomach growled again.

"Okay, I'm done playing now. Let's eat!"

(A/N: HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!)


	3. Chapter 3

"Hurry, hurry! This way, this way!" Glimmer shouted as she, Bow, Adora and Sora ran through the halls of Bright Moon Castle. They had just finished their late breakfast, and without realizing it, it was only a few minutes till noon, the time the meeting with the generals began. So now they rushed as fast as they could to make it on time.

"Right through here!" Glimmer slid to a halt as everyone else. She took a moment to catch a much needed breathe and straightened out her clothes. The rest took that que to start fixing themselves up too. Looking a bit more presentable, Glimmer opened the large double doors that led into a massive room with murals depicting impressive looking individuals all around the room. At the head of the room there was a depiction that was clearly Queen Angella, whom was still not present. "*Phew* We made it on time. We're in the clear."

"Whoa, this room is huge!" Adora gaped in amazement.

"Look at all the people on the wall. They must be pretty important to get themselves painted like that" Sora accurately assumed.

Bow nodded, entering this room has really become part of the norm for him and Glimmer though. "Yeah this is, like, the fourth biggest room in the castle. Right Glimmer?"

"Yup, the War Room is behind the Banquet Hall, then the Throne Room, and the biggest area is the Grand Entrance." She took a look around, "Alright, let's take a seat. Everyone but my mom's here and she always comes in at noon sharp."

Adora blinked and looked on in curiosity. "This is everyone? Almost all the chairs are empty."

"Those are only for the other Etherian Princesses to sit on, no one else" Glimmer walked by without batting an eye, "None of them have been a part of the Rebellion since I was a small kid."

"Oh yeah, didn't you mention that before, not long after we met?" Sora asked Adora, to which she nodded.

Glimmer continued "Yeah, the Rebellion had a really bad defeat years ago, and almost all of the Princesses gave up."

"Of course not Glimmer and her mom, don't forget Princesses Spinnerella and Netossa" Bow reminded before turning to wave at the two women at the other end of the table, "Hey guys!"

The other two Princesses smiled and waved back. One of the Princesses had light pink skin, lavender colored hair and she wore fine clothing fit for royalty. The Princess by her side had dark colored skin, had snow white hair and she wore clothes that looked more combat ready. Despite her hair color though, she looked positively young. They both did. Not much older then Sora and his friends.

Bow whispered to Adora and Sora "We're really not too sure what they do."

"Huh, well in that case, I'm gonna go over there and say hi." Sora excitedly ran around the table and met up with them. From Adora, Glimmer and Bow's perspective, they were too far to hear, but what they saw was another exchange of waving before Sora started talking animatedly to them. They were pretty sure he was about to do something embarrassing, but he actually incited some laughter and giggles from them.

Adora was shaking her head in disbelief, "How does he do that?" There was no way she could ever just walk up to someone and just start talking.

None of them were able to hear what Sora said, but whatever it was, the three of them were roaring with laughter, Netossa going as far as to start banging on the table and Spinnerella almost falling out of her seat. Sora, while holding his sides, started waving Adora over.

"Adora, come over here and say hi to these guys! You'll love them!" For some reason, that incited another round of laughter from the two Princesses.

Adora let out a nervous chuckle, "Um, hi guys. How're doing? Maybe we can try talking later."

Sora spoke some more words to the two, Netossa was the first one to calm down. She shot Adora a comforting smile before waving at her and speaking up "Don't worry. Whenever you're more comfortable."

The pink skinned lady wiped a tear from her eye before settling on giving her a friendly wave. Sora waved them goodbye before making his way back to the other. "Sorry about her, she's shy! We'll talk soon!"

That earned a few snickers from around the table. Adora turned beet red before sinking in the seat closest to her. Everyone but Sora gasped at that, startling her something awful. She looked around for an answer, "Wait-what? I don't understand, what's wrong?!"

Everyone tried to wave her off, but suddenly a tall, looming figure stood over her, "This is not your chair."

Adora felt her neck crane up to look at the Queen's cold gazing being casted at her. She gulped as Glimmer appeared next to her in a shower of lights.

"First day. Sorry about that, won't happen again." She grabbed hold of her before teleporting the two away a few seats over.

"What? What did I do?" Adora was barely able to get out in a whisper.

"That's...my dad's chair that you sat in" Glimmer ended quietly.

"Oh, oooooh, I'm so sorry." Adora looked down at her feet.

The Queen cleared her throat, "I've gathered you all here today because Bright Moon's received a distress message from Princess Perfuma. The Horde is upon her and her kingdom, and she asks for assistance. General, the floor is yours."

An armored woman approached before removing her helmet, revealing a telling scar across her face. "Plumeria is located on the front lines between our territory with the Horde. They have encroached Perfuma's kingdom and have setup camps in her borders." The war table revealed itself to be able to project a hologram, displaying their most recent information. "They have used this to their tactical advantage of cutting off Plumeria's main supply line. If this goes on much longer, the Horde will easily be able to starve Perfuma and her people into submission and defeat." The hologram zoomed out and showed the main territories and their alignments. Plumeria, whose color was a light red, turned a dark green. "If this happens, the Horde will be one step closer to our doorsteps and will push for an advantage to get around the Whispering Woods, which has stood as our main defense this whole time. I'm sure I don't need to spell out what that will mean for us."

Sora and Adora both visibly grimaced, not at all used to these kinds of discussions. Sora spoke up, "So what's the plan? Do we hit their camps and fight them off?"

Angella kept a straight face as she put her fingers together. "No, we shan't. We will provide food and humanitarian aid, and that will be it."

Sora blinked twice at that. "That's it? We're not going to fight? Isn't this a war to stop these Horde guys from destroying everything?"

Adora wanted to stand up and agree, but the moment she tried to stand, she instantly had the case of cold feet and sat down. She kicked herself at that, thinking back to her feelings this morning and the fact she wasn't even going to try to back her friend. She moaned to herself. Her Majesty really has her feeling completely unempowered.

"Indeed it is," Queen Angella acknowledged, "And we were once allies with Princess Perfuma and her kingdom, but her kingdom has long since turned their back on us and the Rebellion. We have asked for aid and support more than once during our war effort, but they had refuted us. While I cannot fully condemn them for their attempt at neutrality, I also cannot accept the lost resources and man power if we try to open another front and they continue to not support us." She let out a distressful sigh, she didn't seem to like the logical conclusion she came to. "It is only out of the goodness in my heart to not fully ignore their pleas, hence food and humanitarian aid."

Sora didn't look ready to give up, but he seemed at a loss of what to say. He was a fighter, not a strategist. Adora bit her lips, she wanted to say exactly what's on her mind, but didn't know if she could muster the courage. She watched him sit back down with his arms cross and a downcast expression. She looked to Glimmer and Bow, they too didn't look much different. Adora took a deep breathe, her new friends hadn't let her down yet, she wasn't going to either. She exhaled and stood on her feet.

"You should send me as She-Ra, Sora, Glimmer and Bow to lead the relief mission!" She cleared her throat as she realized she was a little too loud. Angella rose and gave her a curious look. "Sora and I will make sure everything will go smoothly _and_ make sure Glimmer and Bow will be safe if anything goes wrong."

The Queen stood up straight and put her hands together. "I'm sure your plan goes further than just fulfilling the mission we just planned on?"

Adora bowed her head, "Yes, Your Majesty. You don't have to do the same tactics anymore, the times are changing now. She-Ra is back now, and we have a Keyblade Wielder, _two_ heroes of your legends are side by side. This could be the moment you all need, to give Etheria hope that everything can change for the better. So send us, they'll see we stand with Princess Glimmer, you, and the Rebellion. We can give them more than just aid, we can give them hope. With hope, they can return to the Rebellion and help in the fight against the Horde."

Everyone looked at Adora with amazement, to come up with such an inspiring speech right there and then. Even Queen Angella was taken back by her words and felt a part of her become inspired, become hopeful even. Sora hopped out of his seat and called out her name before cheering and clapping for her. Glimmer and Bow were quick to do the same. Princesses Spinnerella and Netossa stood up as well and applauded her, as did the guards.

Angella looked around at everyone in the War Room before looking at Adora, she was blushing profusely from all the attention, and looked ready to hide under the table. She gave the young woman a small smile before giving her a polite small round of applause as well. "Well, well. I never thought you had such a spark within you. Color me impressed." She raised a hand to the room to call in order. "Very well. Your words have spoken loud and they did not fall upon deaf ears. You now have your mission: Provide aid to Princess Perfuma and her people. Inspire them with your powerful words and appearance, and win the people back to the Rebellion."

Sora, Glimmer and Bow looked ready to start jumping with joy, but Her Majesty wasn't done yet. She knew to hold her hand up to them from getting too ahead of themselves. "However, this is _still_ a relief mission. That is your main duty. Do not stray away. You are not to engage with the enemy. Should you win over Plumeria, you are to send word back to Bright Moon, and we will take military actions to defend the kingdom. An offensive strike will be held soon after, is that understood?"

The four of them stood up straight before nodding or saluting, "Understood!"

* * *

Sora, Adora, Glimmer, and Bow have been on the road for a few hours now, being trudged behind them were two wagons filled with much food and water for the needy people they aim to win over to the Rebellion.

During their time, Adora had gone the entire trip transformed as She-Ra and seemed to enjoy showing off her mighty strength whenever the opportunity came. Particularly whenever there was a small obstacle in the way, no matter how small or simple it could been resolved, she would insist carrying over both wagons at the same time instead. After a few times too many of showboating, Sora challenged her to an arm wrestling match, to which she happily accepted. Unlike last time though, the struggle between the two was real.

"You better not be holding back this time!" A red faced She-Ra struggled to get out as the two went at it.

"Nope, no holding-Back!" Sora's arm wavered a bit as she pushed him back.

"Oh-h-h-h! This time your mine punk!"

Glimmer looked on at the two with disappointment and disbelief. She placed a hand over her face as she stood next to a seated Bow, he seemed to find some entertainment in this at the very least.

"Come on, Glimmer, who do you think is going to win?! I was thinking Sora at first, but now I just don't know anymore!"

Sora was beginning to push back against the taller girl, but she still had some advantage over him. She crackled like a witch when his advanced stopped.

"It's. Not. Over!" She-Ra only laughed louder.

"This can't be happening. This can't be happening" The Princess muttered to herself over and over again.

"What was that Glim?"

She finally snapped at them, "Just what do you guys think you're doing?! We are on a mission, REMEMBER?!" She blinked over and shoved her on weight to make Sora lose. "There, she won! Can we get back to the mission now?!"

"Aww, no fair! I call a do-over!" Sora complained.

She-Ra faked cried as she rubbed her eyes, "Oh, boo-hoo. I was gonna win anyway, and you know it!"

"No way! I was about to-mhmmh!" Sora was interrupted as Glimmer tiptoed to covered both his and She-Ra's mouth.

"No! No more of this!" She pulled her arms back as she turned to look at the taller girl. "What's wrong with you?! It was just four hours ago that you were like 'This is our chance to give them hope,' and now you're acting like a kid?!"

The intimidating looking warrior looked nothing short of timid as she nervously tapped her fingers together and looked down at her feet because of the much smaller girl. "Um, yeah, sorry. I guess I let myself get a little carried away with my new powers."

Bow stepped in to play peacemaker. "Okay guys, let's take a moment to breathe. Glimmer, we're doing fine. We made really awesome time getting this far already. Faster than anyone else would have gotten instead of us. Besides, the four of us aren't that far away from being kids anymore. No harm in having a bit of fun, right?"

Sora jumped in to help, "Yeah, and Adora never really had a chance to be a kid, remember? She only just had her first party. Think about all the games she's never had the chance to play."

Glimmer looked down feeling a bit guilty. She was about to apologize, but She-Ra stepped forward, "No guys, she's right. There's time for work, and there's time for play, and right now we're on a mission. We're trying to help people." She let out a chuckle in her throat, "So I promise, no more showboating...at least until the mission's done. Then I'm all over you, Sora!" She emphasized by punching her fist into her hand.

"Bring it!"

* * *

"Come on! I think I can hear them!" Glimmer called out as she ducked under an exposed root. Sure enough Glimmer was able to quickly spot the large campsite of Plumerian refugees.

Sora stubbornly tried to pull the wagon through the path, but kept getting stuck under all the high hanging tree roots. She-Ra opted to toss the cart up and catch it on the opposite side, looking entirely too smug about it. Seems like no matter how serious she'll try to get, it probably won't be too soon where she won't be admiring her new powers when she gets the chance.

Approaching the clearing, Glimmer and Bow took notice of their surroundings, a lot of the plant life was dead. "Wait, I don't under- Mom never said anything about the plants dying?"

"I don't know if she even knows" Bow looked concerned.

She-Ra and Sora look gave each other a questioning look. "Okaaaay~ What's the big deal?"

"I mean, it's a little sad that the plants are dying. I'm guessing though that in this particular case, it's especial bad?"

Bow nodded, "Princess Perfuma has the power over nature. She grows flowers all around her without even thinking."

Glimmer let out a moan, "Man, this is gonna spell so much trouble, and if mom finds out we try something, Uuuugh!"

Sora gave her a modest smile and shrug of the shoulders. "Maybe it's not so bad. Maybe she could be distracted from the attack then, I don't know, forgot to water them?"

She slumped forward, "If we were so lucky…"

The moment they started moving forward, She-Ra called out to stop them, "Wait, wait, wait wait! Real quick you guys, what looks more heroic? This?" She posed while pulling the wagon behind her, "Or this?!" She lifted the cart over her head and one handedly did some arm crunches. "A or B, which one do you think they'll like me better as?"

Bow crossed his arms and tapped in chin. In a critique like voice he answered "A is nice and all, but pose B definitely shouts heroic to me."

Sora raised his hand up, "I think Adora would look better!" She frowned at that.

Glimmer was quick to agree, "Yeah, seriously, are you gonna run around the entire time as She-Ra?"

She looked at them as though it were too obvious, "Uh, yeah. Everyone likes me better this way anyway. You won't see Adora do any of this."

"Well, I for one like Adora better…" Sora thought about it for a moment, "Though I can't deny you look way cool the way you are now."

Bow opened his mouth to comment as well too, but smoke in the distance caught his eye. "Wait, you guys see that smoke over there, right?"

She-Ra frowned, "It's...probably the Horde's camp."

"You're here! You all made it!" Quickly approaching from the camp was a small crowd of people made of mostly human and a few of what looked like satyr, kind of like Phil, except clothed and definitely less fur. Leading them was a girl looking to be around their age, dressed in a pink and teal dress with flowers decorating her long blonde hair.

Glimmer recognized who she was and extended her hand to her, "Princess Perfuma, I am Commander Glimmer." She heard Sora snicker from behind her, with it being the first time he heard her being addressed by her military rank.

With the smallest of hand gestures from from the Princess, around her neck appeared a necklace of extravagant flowers. One appeared on top of Bows head too, though unlike Glimmer, he seemed to get really excited by it.

Perfuma poked her head around the shorter Princess and spotted Adora as She-Ra and a twinkle appeared in her eyes as though she'd witnessed a once in a lifetime moment. "Everyone! Everyone! Come quick! It's, it's! Oh my! It's the Legendary She-Ra!"

She and the rest of the group moved past Glimmer and Bow, and had yet to even acknowledge Sora. He noticed that too, "Yay, and Sora too" he cheered under his breath. 'Not as though I wanted flowers too.'

She-Ra was looking uncomfortable as everyone crowded around her, trying to touch and even hug her. She was quick to put down the wagon before she dropped it on someone by mistake in the small chaos.

"The universe has heard our please and has sent a legendary warrior to save us all!"

She-Ra really paled at that as the expectations and weight of her responsibilities made itself known again. A bead of sweat dripped down her temple as she gulped. Time for a heroic announcement. "People of Plumeria! We have heard about the Horde blockade, and Bright Moon has come to help!" She paused as she waited for the Princess or one of her citizens to respond. None did as they continued to stare at her with hope filled eyes. "Uhh, we have brought you food, water and supplies!" She pointed to the carts where Sora smiled and waved from. Still no attention was paid to him. When no one said anything still, she managed to get out "Rejoice?!"

Princess Perfuma's eyes watered up and spilled over. Her arms wrapped around the taller woman and she happily declared, "She-Ra and friends, welcome to Plumeria!"

She-Ra looked down her right arm and found two small children with their arms and legs constricted around her biceps, and a third one swinging on her left arm. She desperately looked to her friends, "Um, guys, what's happening?" She was feeling some small hands grabbing at her neck and hair. She let out an grunt as another adult woman got in and pressed her head against her chest. "This doesn't feel right!" she squeaked.

"That's a hero's welcome for you" Sora then sighed "I'll get there one day."

Princess Perfuma let go and eagerly waved to everyone, "Please, let me give you a tour! You four will love it here!"

The five of them left most of the crowd behind as the Princess insisted on a tour. She-Ra and Sora were able to pry the kids off of her easily enough, but the grown woman was being significantly more difficult about it.

"Our people have lived here in peace and tranquility for thousands of years" Perfuma waved her hand and flowers and bushes began to grow, only to wilt away almost immediately, "We're known for our beautiful flowers, majestic trees…"

"Our pottery and sculptures" the woman clinging to She-Ra continued as Sora tried to pull her from the hips.

"We haven't seen those yet" Sora thought aloud as he and She-Ra struggled.

"That's because the Horde destroyed them!" The woman sounded way too happy still. She even still had that smile on her face as Sora finally managed to pull her away, sending the two tumbling back.

Glimmer scrunched up her face in thought and confusion. "This doesn't make sense. You all don't really seem bothered at all by the Horde. Aren't you scared or worried?"

Perfuma's eyes shrunk for a moment and her smile faltered, but a second later they both returned to the way they were. "And finally we have the Heart-Blossom! This tree stands in the very center of our kingdom, and it is the source of my powers and all our hopes." She looked at the flowers and bush she conjured a moment ago, her smile looked shaky. "We're...going through a bit of a rough-patch, but the universe has its plans and I'm sure it will all right itself soon."

The four of them looked to each other questionly, "So what are you doing about the situation in the meantime?" She-Ra asked.

"Surely you guys aren't just sitting around and doing nothing about it, right?" Bow continued.

"Because it looks like everything is either dead or dying. I'm going to take a wild guess that your farms and crops are all gone too?" Glimmer finished.

"We ARE trying to be serious over here!" Sora tried to hold the struggling woman back.

"I just want to touch her one more time, maybe even smell her hair!"

"I think you might have a problem!" he commented as She-Ra took a step back and hugged her arms to herself.

Perfuma paid them a glance before she continued. "I know things look bleak since the blight hit us, and if things would have gone on as they did before you showed up, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't worry or become desperate. I know my people know that too, hence…" She gestured to the She-Ra fan now foaming at the mouth. "With all of my magic over nature, it hasn't been able to help heal the land. Me and my people are scared, we just try not to dwell on the negatives." She suddenly perked up as she formed a necklace of flowers before placing it around She-Ra neck. "But now none of it doesn't matter anymore, the Heart-Blossom still thrives and the She-Ra is here! It's like I said, the universe will right itself."

At the insistence of a celebration, Princess Perfuma had quickly arranged a banquet to be held right under the Heart-Blossom in honor of the coming of She-Ra. The people were quick to use the very provisions that She-Ra and her friends brought for their aid, only to try to feed it back to her. It was a little painful for Sora, Glimmer and Bow to watch, Adora the tough soldier being pampered with the very food they were supposed to use to help the people. She tried to urge them that she didn't need any of it, that the Plumerians needed it more, but her pleas were ignored.

"So, when are we supposed to drop the second hero bomb on them?" Glimmer asked, feeling a little weird that she, Bow and Sora were completely left out of the celebration.

Bow got all excited, "Oh, oh, Sora, what else can you do?! Maybe you can jump in with your magic sword swinging, doing all sorts of magic stuff…"

"A few things about that, A: Remember I lost a lot of my magic. The only spells I can cast right now are healing spells for the injured, and fire. B: Pretty sure the forest people aren't going to like fire magic being thrown about."

Bow rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, forests do _not_ like fire." Sora interrupted by holding up a finger.

"C: I'm pretty sure they could overdose on all of the excitement if I entered the fray. And D: No thank you! Adora looks miserable enough that she wouldn't say no to the company. I think I'm fine where I am." Bow and Glimmer got a snicker out of the last two.

Glimmer looked a little worried, "So what do we do now? We brought the supplies, the people are obviously really roused...is the job complete? Do we ask them to return to the Rebellion now?"

Bow crossed his arms, "Umm, I don't know. This feels like this is a little way too easy."

Sora nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, it doesn't feel right to end it here." Sora looked to the smoke from before. An idea popped in, he jumped and turn to the other two, a bit of a mischievous look to his face. "I know what we can do! Your mom said do not engage the Horde right?" he waited for her nod before continuing, "Well, we got everything else done. How about some icing on top of the cake while still listening to orders?"

Glimmer wasn't too sure where he was heading for this, but she couldn't help but feel super excited by it. "Yeah! What did you have in mind?"

"Let's scope out the enemy, _not_ engage, and return back with a recon report. You know, military stuff?"

Bow didn't look the most comfortable with that suggestion. "I don't know, that sounds awfully close to disobeying some direct orders."

Glimmer looked at him as though he went bonkers, "Are you crazy? This is perfect! This way, for once, we can actually contribute and help defeat the bad guys while still staying out of trouble! If we go back to Bright Moon with a full report, mom will be soooo impressed, she might actually give me more war duties!" She turned back to Sora, "Let's do it!"

Bow swayed his head as he thought about it, "I mean, technically we would still be following orders...Yeah, I'm in!"

"Oh yeah!" Sore held out two hands for them to high five, unlike Adora, they knew how and it felt good. "Alright let's try to grab Adora."

They returned to the banquet to see She-Ra carrying a multitude of of food and..a baby? She looked thoroughly confused and a bit miserable as a child handed her another gift. "Oh wow, it's a-a-"

"Windchime" Sora whispered to her.

"Windchime, yes. I'll definitely use it to chime all sorts of wind" she smile awkwardly.

Princess Perfuma entered her personal bubble again as she rested her head on She-Ra's shoulder. "Oh, we are sooo excited for you to heal our land and bring all the plants back to life!" She then looked a little puzzled, "Will you be doing that before the drum circle or after? Normal everyone gets impatient having to wait, but I think they'll be fine this time. You know, makes it all worth it if we do it juuuuust right."

She-Ra's eyes shrunk and she stammered all over, "You uh, you, you you uh, want me to heal the land?"

Perfuma grabbed her cheeks, looking too excited, "Yes! Just like in the stories of old!" She had a dreamy look as she stood up. "She-Ra, wielding her magic sword, heals the forest and brings the trees back to life."

She-Ra broke in sweats and started mouthing some of the words just said. Her eye began to twitch. Glimmer skidded in and started waving it off, "Yeah, I've seen her do way weirder stuff than that. This will be a piece of cake."

She-Ra desperately whispered to Sora, "Cake, what's cake?! Please tell me that's a weapon or a device to heal plants!" She looked like she was about to snap and breakdown. He disappointingly shook his head.

"This will be simple, you'll see."

Expectations be damned, there's no way she's gonna go along this charade without saying something. She-Ra stood up, letting the food roll all around before handing the baby to her nearby mother. "Whoa, whoa, whao, wait a moment. That is not at all so simple. None of that is, plus I really don't like the looks of that smoke and how close it is." She pointed to the billowing pillar of smoke.

Bow stepped forward, "Yeah, the three of us just finished talking about it, and we agreed that we should all do some reconnaissance, you know, investigate what might be happening. She-Ra's powerful, and magic can do a lot, but this might require a military operation for us to help put a stop to it. It'll be better if we're ready."

Perfuma gulped as she looked around nervously, "We?" She let her shoulder drop and she done a sad smile. She held out her hand as another flower bloomed, "This is my power. I grow plants, flowers." It immediately wilted away. She let it fall to the ground, as did her smile. "We're not strong enough to go up against the Horde. We're lovers, not fighters. We just want to live peacefully, here, in our ancestral home." Everyone's composer dropped as they all looked solemn and depressed. It was just as the Princess had said earlier, they all knew how grave the situation was. "We need you, She-Ra."

Sora grimaced, "That's not an enormous weight or anything, right?" All the Plumerians around started to circle around them while chanting She-Ra's name. Sora nodded, "Yup nevermind."

Sora was about to continue and say his piece to the people, but it seems that She-Ra completely lost her nerves. "Yes! Healing! That is a thing I _can_ do! I'm just gonna grab these guys here" She wrapped her arms around all three of them before effortlessly picking them up, "And go over the plans. Behind those trees there. In private." Started started to turn around before adding, "I know what I'm doing! Not panicking or anything!" She ran them over, just past the treeline before setting them down before she smashed her head into a tree several times.

"What am I doing?! What am I doing?! I can't heal anything! How can they just say all of that and expect me to say a few magic words and then whoosh, everything's all better now?!"

"Hey, the stories say you do. I mean Sora can, so maybe you can too and not even know it?" Bow suggested.

"Sora said a wizard taught him!" She argued.

Glimmer tried to reason, "Hey, didn't you tell me that you accidently turn the horse into a winged unicorn? Maybe you have it in you to heal stuff too? Maybe you just really need to concentrate?"

She turned to Sora next, he looked at a loss before shrugging his shoulders, "I don't know, worth a try?"

She shakily nodded her head before taking several deep breaths. She tried quieting her mind and focusing. She felt herself glow with power. She held out hand before closing her eyes and imagining the the tree in front of her bloom with life. She moved her hand forward and felt something shoot out. "Did I do it?" She asked, a little too afraid to open her eyes.

"Nope" Bow's shoulders slumped.

"But if it's any consolation, even when you're not trying, you're really good at punching things" Sora said, hoping to make her feel a little better. She-Ra opened her eyes and saw the hole she just punch through the tree, she did not feel better.

She tried to turn her mind around. No, she was sad. No, she's got this, she's got this! "Okay, let me try it again!" The frustration was clear to hear in her voice. She held out her sword and tried to funnel some energy through it. She stumbled back as she accidently let out a magical blast that her friends had to jump to avoid.

"Again!" She held out her sword.

"Okay, maybe we should try to cool our heads!" Sora tried to suggestion, but She-Ra stubbornly tried anyway. Another blast shot out, this time it hit a small, green lizard. Now the reptile was white with rainbow colored wings and a little horn sticking out.

Bow let out a gasp, "Is that what happened to Horsey?!"

She definitely lost her temper this time as She-Ra roundhouse kicked a tree, completely snapping it in half. Looking at the remains, she let out a depressed sigh.

"Adora, please cheer up. All you need is a little time and practice. You'll get it, you'll see" Glimmer tried to assure her.

"There isn't enough time! You saw those people, they expect me to save the land right now! If She-Ra can't deliver there hopes and believe, then what good am I to them?" She looked like she was ready to vent by beating up another tree, but slumped to the ground instead. "I thought I'd be better as She-Ra, but I'm still useless. Just like Adora."

Bow with his upbeat voice pushed Sora forward. "Hey, I know! How about Sora teach you that healing spell? I've seen him use it before, it looks flowery and nature like, so maybe with your powers combined you two can do it!"

Sora smiled, "Hey, that's an idea...except I'd have no idea how to even start teaching magic" he faltered.

BOOM!

"Whoa! That doesn't sound so good." Sora pulled She-Ra back on her feet.

The flower accessories made by Perfuma's magic suddenly wilted away before crumbling to dust.

"That really doesn't look good" Glimmer tried to scoop up the ashes, but they were blown away.

"She-Ra and friends!" Perfuma called out as she ran up to the four, "Something absolutely terrible has happened! Please, we have to return to the Heart-Blossom right away!"

They all returned to the massive tree...the once healthy tree, now like everything else around them, was dying. Its pink gem now black, and putrid, green veins were pulsing all along the trunk, beating as though a heartbeat was about to give.

The Princess looked to She-Ra with large, wet eyes, imploring her. "The Heart-Blossom is dying. Please, heal our land."

She-Ra took a shaky breath as she stood in front of the tree. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, Sora was by her side. "Together?" She gave a slow nod.

Sora closed his eyes and held out his hand. In a flash of light, the Kingdom Key was floating in front of him. Opening his eyes, he grabbed the hilt and approached the tree with the tall blonde behind him.

Perfuma blinked. "Wait, what?" She looked at the boy, as though noticing him for the first time, She asked him "Who are you again?"

Sora flashed her a smile, "I'm Sora. Chosen wielder of the Keyblade." Seeing her confused expression, he figured that probably someone only like Queen Angella would have heard of the ancient tale. "Another legendary warrior." Seeing her hopeful expression, he was quick to explain, "But my shtick is driving away the Darkness from the Realm of Light. We'll see what I can do."

Both he and She-Ra placed a hand on the blackened gem and tried to get a feel for it. There really wasn't much to read off it, just felt like a smooth, stony surface. Sora flinched as the Warrior Princess turned on the light show again. He didn't know if she was trying to funnel her powers again or if there was a reaction to something, but he decided to see if something might come out of using the Keyblade too.

"Come on, please do something" she muttered to herself.

Nothing. No, the veins began to spread faster than any vines could grow, but they were pulsing with that terrible green color even faster. That really didn't look good. Sora pointed the Keyblade at the gemstone and cast " _Curaga_!"

As expected, a bell shaped flower bloomed above the gemstone before showering it with glowing petals. The pulsing slowed and the pink color returned if only as a flicker before darkening again, very soon the pulsing returned to its fast pace.

She-Ra desperately tried pouring what strength she had into the tree, but everything seemed to head south fast. Her powers gave out, and the tall, powerful warrior was replaced with Adora. She slumped to the ground exhausted before Sora picked her back up and supporting her.

"I'm sorry, we couldn't save the tree. _I_ couldn't save the tree" she tried to apologize.

Everyone let out a gasp as they looked at Adora, Perfuma ran up to them in a panic, "What, no, no, no! What happened?! This wasn't supposed to happen."

One of the the citizens stepped forward and angrily demanded answers. "Who are you, what did you do to She-Ra?!"

Her gaze dropped, "My name is Adora. I was the one chosen to wield She-Ra's Sword of Protection. The sword chose me, but I haven't been doing this for long. I-I haven't even been at this for a week yet. I'm sorry, I still don't know how any of this works."

The people around them expressed many emotions; confusion, fear, anger, hopelessness.

"She's just a child!"

Sora was quick to retort, "Hey, we're the same age and I've defeated more monsters than you've seen trees!"

"She's in a Horde uniform!"

Glimmer and Bow came to her defense, "Hey, she's not with the Horde anymore!"

"Yeah, she's on our side now!"

"They all lied to us!"

Adora pushed herself off of Sora before holding her hands up, trying to calm them down. "I didn't deceive you. _I_ am She-Ra! I'm just not the same She-Ra from hundreds of years ago. I didn't mean to get your hopes up like this!"

"So...you can't save us?" Perfuma asked simply.

"We can still save you, just not the way you expected us to!" Sora insisted.

BOOM!

Another explosion went off, shaking the ground even hard. After the last explosion, things took a turn for a worst, they now looked at the Heart-Blossom tree and the veins completely spread across the entire tree. All the leaves were turning black and the bark began to lose its color. Everyone around them began to worry as they turned to one another, many started weeping about the impending end.

Adora's eyes went wide as her worst thoughts came to life, she was letting everyone down. The people were panicking, the Princess had given up hope, Sora had his hands in his pockets as he kicked at a patch of dirt, Glimmer looked like she was about to cry as she pulled at her hair in front of Bow.

Glimmer turned to Bow, "No, no, no! Everything was going so right! We were going to win Plumeria and save their people, and bring a report on the Horde's camp layout. Mom was going to be so proud, we would have started winning against the Horde, but now everything's ruined!" Bow gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, knowing how important this was to her.

Adora gave a deep gasp as she was struck by an ephiany. "Everyone stop! This is not over yet! Please listen, I know the Horde. I'm almost positive that they're using a machine that's responsible for all of this! If we want to save your land, your home, we're gonna have to take the fight to them if we're to put a stop to all this!"

One of the men from earlier challenged her again, "You're not the She-Ra from the stories! You were supposed to save us, heal the land with your powers. How are we supposed to follow you?!"

That stopped her in her tracks. Sora was quick to her defense again, "Hey, the She-Ra from over a thousand years ago, do you really expect her to come back from being what's probably a pile of dusty old bones?! I don't think so! Adora here is the new She-Ra! At least she's trying to help you guys out, what are you doing, waiting to be helped?! Help her help you before kicking her while she's down!"

Princess Perfuma stepped in between the two, "Please, please. Everyone I promise that everything is going to be okay. We can rebuild so long as mother nature is on our side. We can only hope that the universe will repay the Horde what's due to them."

Glimmer put her foot down, "The universe will fix everything?! Didn't you just hear what Sora said? Adora is here right now! She and Sora can help fix this, but you're all only interested in the stories. What's the point if any of you won't even try to help save yourselves."

Once again, their words fell on deaf ears. "If She-Ra cannot save us, then no one can. The only thing left for me is to make sure my people are safe. I'm going to evacuate everyone today, we're no longer safe here." The Princess turned and led her people back to the camps, the four were left alone.

"I...only just wanted to help."

Glimmer tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Adora just shrugged it off. She moved and sat herself on one of the roots of the dying Heart-Blossom and held her head down.

"Okay, that's it!" Adora, Glimmer and Bow jumped up at Sora's loud declaration. "We've failed the mission. We completely lost any chances of getting Plumeria to join Bright Moon, the Horde is probably gaining ground, and we didn't even come close to trying to get that scout report. Really the only thing we did do right was deliver the supplies, and even then they just used it on us. If we're gonna return to the Queen as a band of failures, I say we go all the way and disobey orders. Let's go back the Bright Moon having at least done the right thing!"

"Wait, you mean attack the Horde camp?!" Glimmer stepped forward.

"Oh boy, if we do that, we're gonna be in so much trouble with Glimmer's mom!"

Glimmer turned to Bow, "But like Sora said, we're gonna be in trouble anyway."

"Not nearly as much trouble if we go through with this!" Bow argued back. He tapped his foot for a moment before coming to a conclusion, "But we'd really be helping these people...Okay, if you guys are in, so am I."

"Do I need to even say it?! You know I'm in!" Sora affirmed.

Glimmer and Bow looked at Adora. She looked surprised by the sudden turn of everything, but she started to smile confidently.

"You better believe I'm in, and I think I've got a plan."

* * *

Sora and Bow leaned in cover behind nearby trees as they watched Adora and Glimmer carefully make their way through the camp. The plan was for Adora to lead the Princess to the storage house nearest to the outer wall. Using Glimmer's teleporting ability with Sora and Bow as overwatch, the two made it in and out of the camp with four sets of Horde armor.

Adora started handing out the disguises, "Alright, let's get these on and we can practically walk ourselves right into the camp with no trouble."

Bow excited started to get his on, "This is gonna be so epic! With these uniforms and your Horde brain, this is gonna be the best mission ever!"

"Yeah, I'm hoping this won't jinx us, but I've got a good feeling about this, like we'll finish this a little too easily." Glimmer fiddled around with the chest piece.

"Man, this is the first time I tried anything with a disguise, it's kind of like spy stuff. I can't wait to tell my friends about this next time I see them!" Sora's hair gave him a little trouble as he tried to put the helmet on, it just wouldn't stop shoving his spikes into his eyes and face. After having to turn the helm in a 360* motion more than once, he finally got his hair right underneath.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Adora was very quick to get into the armor and was patiently waiting for her friends. "The Horde is very strict with the layout of campsites, they almost never deviate from the standard, especially on high value operations. Knowing that, we can bet that command will be in the dead center of it all, along with the machine that would responsible for this whole mess." She looked at them to make sure that they were paying attention. "Now listen, changing of the guards happens every half-an-hour, so we have a very small window to ambush the next change of guards and take their place. After that, we can enter completely unimpeded and stop whoever's in command and destroy the machine, got it?"

"Got it" Sora confirmed.

"Yeah-uh" Bow nodded.

Glimmer's voice was a little more shaky, "Uh, yeah. I got it."

Adora put a steady hand on her shoulder, "Don't be scared, Glimmer, we've got this. We stick to the plan, everything will be alright. And if things do go south, we'll stick together and watch each other's backs."

She gave a nod before putting her helmet on.

Together, all four were able to entered the camp via Glimmer's teleportation, Adora taking the lead as they moved between prefabricated buildings. As they got closer to the center, she spoke to Sora, "Sora, since your weapon can be summoned and dismissed, you're gonna take lead when we take down the guards. Think you can knock out a fireteam before they can shout out an alarm?"

Sora took a moment to think about it, he answered modestly "I can definitely take down at least two before they can figure out what's happening, maybe three if I'm lucky. How many will there be?"

"Guards are always teams of four, attacking squads are teams of six."

"Okay, how about I go for the two furthest to the right, someone can take the far left one, then it can be a race of who will get the last one?"

Adora nodded, "Sounds like a plan. You guys have any objections?"

Glimmer and Bow shook their heads.

Adora was quiet for a moment, "Okay, we're coming up to the command building and it's almost time for the guards to shift. Stick together and keep an eye out for a team of four."

Bow heard footsteps behind them, "Guys, I think I found them. Right behind us." Indeed behind them was a team of four dragging their feet through the dirt. Their complaints and laments about returning back to guard duty was clearly heard from them as well. "It's gonna look weird if they see us turn around towards them."

Princess Glimmer was quick to think of an idea. "Oh, wait! They're not paying much attention. I think I can teleport behind them without their notice. Bow with me, we can subtle distract them while you two knock them out with their backs turned."

Adora really couldn't give the idea much time to think about, but she trusted her and knew they had to act fast. "Do it."

She grabbed Bow before disappearing and reappearing behind the squad, and they still didn't seem to be none the wiser. Glimmer tapped on one of the guards shoulder, "Excuse me, can I ask you a quick question?"

The guard turned around right away as the other three gained a bit more space before turning around as well, "Uh, uhhh, what? Ahem, what did you need?"

The plan worked perfectly, the moment they turned around, Sora summoned his Keyblade and leapt forward. His first swing smacked a guard on top of the head, sending him to the guard instantly. The second guard only started to turn around before his faceplate got smashed into.

Adora jumped on the third guard's back before wrapping her arm around his neck before using her other arm to punch him several times on the head before he went down, too.

Glimmer casually leaned her head to the side of the fourth guard before calming asking "Hey, what's going on behind you exactly?" As he was turning around, she and Bow jumped him before dragging him to the ground and knocking him out, too. Not nearly as quick as the two newest members of the Rebellion, but still discreetly enough that he didn't get the chance to yell out.

"Yes! That went perfectly!" Adora pumped her fist before dragging one of the unconscious bodies to a narrow gap between building, the other three soon behind her with bodies of their own. Once the bodies were stashed away, Adora resumed her lead to the command building.

They came face to face with the guards they're 'supposed' to relief. "Augh! Finally! I swear these damn shift change gets slower and slower each time."

"Seriously, I'm starving! Did you know this is now a triple shift for me now? And that's before guard duty!"

"Will you stop whining already?! I've been working the same shifts with you, I know!"

As soon as they couldn't see or hear the relieved guards, they took their chance and began entering the building. There was no sign of anybody. No body, but one giant machine. They all looked wide eyed the machine and the vats of chemical it was pumping into the ground.

"Guh, that looks so gross!" Sora complained as he pinched his nose, "And it stinks!"

Glimmer turned to face them, "Adora, you were right, the Horde is poisoning the land. This means we can put a stop to this right now!"

"Hey! What are you four doing in here?!" A guard entered the room, pointing her blaster baton at them.

The four jumped in surprise before turning around. Sora was the quickest to respond, "Uh, I think the better question is what are you doing here?!" Unfortunately he sounded rather stupid.

"I'm the lieutenant, I'm supposed to be here!"

Adora was able to collect her thoughts in time, "Well, we've been given security clearance by the captain! Password's Five-Echo-Niner." She put her hands on her hips, raising her chin to look smug.

She lowered her blaster baton for a moment, "...We haven't used that password in months." She turned around and punched the alarm, instantly sirens started going off all around the base. "HANDS UP!"

The four of them did as they were told, Bow let out a whimper, "We're in trouble."

"You better believe it, now come with me for question! If I also see you do anything I don't like-"

Soar summoned his Keyblade in his hand and swung down hard and fast at her head. With a single smack she went down like a sack of potatoes. "What? Like that?"

Bow in a panicked voice asked "What are we gonna do now?! We're are seriously knee deep in-"

"We're fine!" Sora waved it off, "Look, all we have to do is turn this around to make it that _she's_ the intruder and that _we_ stopped her."

Glimmer nodded, "Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea!"

Adora agreed, "We can still pull this job off."

"Oh good, I almost lost it there for a moment" Bow let out a sigh.

"Yeah, just so long as we don't get-" Sora started before several more troopers arrived at the opposite end door, "-caught again. Dang it!"

"The intruders!"

"Get them!"

"Now what?!" Bow shouted.

"WE RUN!" Adora yelled, leading the team back the way they entered. All around them dozens of Horde Soldiers started to run to their locations, many of them firing their blasters at them.

"Duck and weave! Duck and weave!" Sora yelled out as he recalled some of Phil's training from the Coliseum. True to his words, the four had to duck several times to avoid getting blasted, and they weave between buildings to trying to lose their sight. They soon came to a fork in-between some buildings before being surrounded by all three sides.

Adora looked up, "Over the building we go!" She jumped and quickly started climbing.

"Right behind you!" Sora called out before grabbing Glimmer and Bow by the hips and throwing them upwards and landing them on the roof. He jumped up and joined the other three.

"Ouch! You do know I can teleport, right?!"

"No time, keep running!" Adora ordered as they ran across the roof before jumping on another roof top and back to ground level. The four of them hugged their backs to the wall, hoping to have lost them. "Okay, I think we bought ourselves some time. How many do you guys think you can take?"

Sora wiped his forehead, getting a little too warm wearing this bulky armor. "I can take on bunch, no need to worry about me. Bow?"

Bow had his hands on his knees, clearly winded. "Without my bow? Maybe between one and zero."

Sora blinked. "Wait, why don't you have your bow?" Sora then gasped before turning to Adora, "Adora, where's you sword?"

Adora scratched her cheek, "Uh, back at the village?"

"WHY?!"

She turned around and looked angry at him, "Because this is a stealth and infiltration mission! Where do you think I can hide it on me?! Sorry that I, _unlike some people_ , can't magically summon and dismiss my magical sword from thin air!"

He opened his mouth to argue, but struggled and came up short in the end. "Yeah, okay, I guess I have to give that to you."

Glimmer and Bow leaned back and let out a whine.

That's when they noticed someone from the corner of their eyes, unfortunately they seemed to have noticed back. "The intruders are over here!" In matter of moments a couple dozen troops held up their blasters, ready to fire at them.

Sora stepped forward with Keyblade in hand. "That's it, you guys stay behind me! The moment you all see an opening, take it and run. I'll hold these guys off."

Glimmer tried to pull him back, "Are you crazy?! There's too many of them!"

Bow put a hand on her shoulder, "Glim, if anyone's got this, it's Sora. You just haven't seen him in action yet...and I don't know if that's a good thing?"

Adora stood by Sora as well, "I don't care, I'm not leaving a friend by himself like this!"

Glimmer and Bow stood behind them, looking ready to fight as well, "Neither are we!"

A loud horn sounded, almost vibrating the air with its long, deep tone. Everyone looked towards the source, just in time to see giant vines climb over the camp's wall before tearing it down. Through the new opening , a wave of new vines started to pour through with Princess Perfuma riding on top of them. "I've always said the universe will repay the Horde one day! Well I say that day is today!"

Sora and friends looked at the sight with slack jaws before cheering "I knew plant powers would be cool!" Adora, Glimmer and Bow started cheering for her as well when more of Plumerians followed through the gap and started charging in and attacking the Horde soldiers.

"Princess, what are you doing here?!" Sora called out.

"I saw the note that the She-Ra, or should I say Adora, left behind at the village! I believe this is for you two!" Emerging from the tangle of vines for them to take was a bow and quiver, and the Sword of Protection. "If Adora is brave and strong enough to fight the Horde as she is without the power of She-Ra, then so will we!"

Sora, Glimmer and Bow had never seen such a big smile on Adora's face when she heard all that. With wet eyes she took the sword before pointing it up to the sky, " _For the Honor of Grayskull_!" In a flash of rainbow colors, Adora had transformed into the legendary She-Ra.

Perfuma started laughing and applauding so excitedly, "Oh my, oh my! That was so amazing!" A Horde Soldier tried to rush her from the side. She sent the vines to wrap themselves around the man before shaking him and tossing him away. "I was trying to enjoy a spectacular moment you jerk!"

"Let's go kick their asses!" She-Ra roared as she started to punch her way through the Horde forces.

Perfuma covered her mouth and gave a gasp, "Such language."

Glimmer teleported next to a soldier near She-Ra before teleporting the both of them ten feet in the air before letting drop on another two soldiers, teleporting herself away to deal with more troopers.

Bow's trick arrows came flying over head, releasing a smoke bomb, slick oil, and a heavy foam to incompaciate a dozen more enemies in She-Ra's path.

Sora elbowed the Princess over nature, "Eh, eh? You think rude language, I say inspirational war cry."

She put a thoughtful hand to her chin, "Alright...Let's go kick some, smelly, stinky, um, mean Horde butt!" She called out over to her people. With those words, her people seem to be working harder to fight against the Horde then before.

Sora swayed his head as he judged her words, "Not my choice of words to say, but it worked. Let's kick some smelly, stinky, mean Horde butt people!" The two heard a cheer from all the Plumerians. "Alright, you stay here with your people, I'm gonna go help Adora and the others."

As soon as he finished saying those words, the ground beneath them glowed a healthy green color before spreading past them and towards Plumeria. Before their very eyes the greenery began to return almost instantly to all the dead trees. Perfuma herself glowed a bit as she felt herself over. Almost without her even trying, flowers were growing out of her hands.

"Orrrrrr nevermind. I think she got it."

"YES, OH YES! The She-Ra did it! She saved us from the Horde and healed the land!" The Princess wrapped her arms around Sora's neck before swinging and hanging off him in celebration.

Sora laughed, "Hey don't count yourselves short. We'd never had made it if it wasn't for you guys!"

She only hugged him tighter, "And it's still because you all inspired us to help fight back!" A blast went soaring over their heads. "Oops, we're still not done yet." She let herself down before clenching and unclenching her hands. "Let me try...THIS!" She threw her hands out and plants and vines started growing from out the ground, ensnaring multiple troopers, several of the enemy's ships, and even crushing many of the buildings. The uncaptured Horde Soldiers were able to free their captured comrades before they all had to start retreating from their own hold.

"Wow!" Sora looked on at the amazing sight, but it wasn't him that said that. He and the Princess turned around to she She-Ra, Glimmer and Bow approach them.

Perfuma got giddy and jumped with excitement before throwing herself at the much taller woman. "She-Ra! We did it, we did it! We beat the Horde, and there's no way we could have done it without you! How can we ever repay you?"

The four of them looked to each other knowingly. Glimmer stepped forward, "Well~ Right now this is a very crucial moment in history. We have not one, but two legendary warriors from ancient Etherian tales on our side right now; She-Ra and a Chosen Wielder of the Keyblade. This is Etheria's time to strike back at the Horde, so join the Rebellion! You can help me rebuild the Princess Alliance and we can finally defeat the Evil Horde once and for all!"

Perfuma looked more than a little nervous at that, "But...didn't the Alliance fail horribly?" Glimmer smirked as she thumbed She-Ra and Sora. "Ah, that is a good point."

"I know our parents failed, but this time we are way stronger than before. We need the Alliance, all of us."

It didn't long for her to think about, "Well, I suppose I really did like hitting people with flowers...I would still get to do that, right?"

The four of them smiled to each other, Bow punch his hand into his open palm, "The bad guys will never see it coming!"

Perfuma clapped, "Yay! Then you all got yourselves a deal! The Princess Alliance is back!" She turned to her people, "Everyone look! We're mighty rebels now!" All of the Plumerians started cheering for the new alliance.

Sora gave the three a thumbs up, "Mission complete! Hopefully your mom will be more happy then angry that we disobeyed orders and fought the Horde."

Glimmer did not look confident at all as she started chewing at her fingernails.

"How can you be so reckless as to disobey orders and attack the Horde?! You, young lady, are grounded for a whole week!"

Sora, Adora and Bow stood outside the door, listening to Queen Angella yelling at poor Glimmer all alone. Things had started out good when Princess Glimmer reported that they had secured an alliance with Plumeria, the Queen was quite estasic if anything else. When she asked in detail what had happened, and when Glimmer couldn't keep beating around the bush, furious was the right word to describe the elegant woman.

"Yeah, I guess not."

The three of them thought about going in and help defend the shorter girl, but they thought better of it. "Glimmer's real used to this, trust me" Bow tried to reassure. "Besides, she only got one week. Normally she gets a whole month. I think the Queen's happy."

Sora and Adora both sighed in unison, "If you say so."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the wait. Things have been real busy with my life. Expect a delay for the next chapter is what I'm afraid to announce. For the past couple of weeks I've been packing up my house, work is making me move across the country, but at least I'll be back in my hometown of LA. I was originally planning on drive out with a truck, but due to weather I'm gonna have end up flying to make it on time. That also means less room to carry my things, leaving me no choice but to ship my PC and hope it arrives safely. It will be another couple of weeks before I can return by to writing so thanks from now for your patience.

Thank you all for the PMs you guys have sent out to me! Leave me a review telling me what you think, those really help me get motivated to write more.

Also check out the poll I'm gonna try to post on pairings! Now don't take it too seriously, it's only for fun and will have no impact on the story. Just interested in what everyone would have wanted to see.


	4. Chapter 4

"So Sora, what were you doing before you landed on Etheria?" Glimmer asked as she followed him, Adora, and Bow outside while carrying some camping equipment. Despite her complaints, she still somehow managed to get roped into camping out for the night, albeit on one of the castle's courtyards, but still. There was a good amount of the week left where Glimmer was still grounded before she's allowed to leave castle grounds, and her friends thought a good way to pass the time was by teaching her how to rough it outside. Safe courtyard admittedly, but baby steps.

Bow thought a small bit about it. "Yeah, now that I think about it, we've never asked before. I don't think we've ever gotten the chance to stop and get to know both you and Adora."

Adora gave a heavy sigh as she dropped her load at there campsite, "Things have been pretty nonstop. This may be our very first break since I met you guys."

Sora crossed his arms after putting his load down as well. "Hmm, okay then. Where to start? So right before I landed here, I had just failed the Mark of Mastery Exam. It's a test to see if I'm worthy enough to become a Keyblade Master and learn a new ability called the Power of Waking." He scratched the back of his neck bashfully. "I almost passed, and for a moment I had the Power of Waking, but something bad happened and I ending up failing _AND_ ended up losing most of powers, including Awakening. My task is to regain my powers and strength back, especially the Power of Waking, and to do that I was gonna visit my old friend Hercules. He's this super powerful guy that at one point lost his strength and will to fight after an accident, but managed to regain it back. I was hoping to see if I can figure out what he did so that I can maybe get my powers back. Then on my way there, our ship got sucked in through a wormhole and here I am!"

The three of them looked at his with hanging jaws. "Wow, was not expecting any of that."

"Well, what were you expecting?"

Glimmer let out a sigh as she had a dreamy look on here face, "Something like how you valiantly saved a kingdom, or you slayed the evil dragon and rescued the princess, or maybe falling in love." One could almost see the thought bubble playing out her imagination.

Bow looked at her with some disbelief. "Really? That's what you thought?"

"Well, what did you think he was doing?!"

Bow crossed his arms and smirked, "Simple, flying his spaceship and fighting evil aliens. I mean, he did crash his spaceship here, so it can't stand against reason that there are others out there. To add to that, not everything you meet out there is nice, so I think there's a good chance for epic space battles." He held his arm out while making a gun with his fingers, "Fire the cannons, PEW PEW!"

Sora smiled as he listen to the two banter, he turned to Adora, "So what do _you_ think I was doing before I landed here?"

"Yeah, yeah! What do you think?! I'm betting you thought space wars too!" Bow urged her excitedly while Glimmer leaned in closer to listen.

"Well," Adora scratched at her chin, "If I had to guess, I'd say he's been out there pretty much doing what he's been doing with us."

Glimmer put a hand to her hip, "What? That's no real answer."

Bow agreed, "Yeah, want to maybe expand on that?"

Adora shrugged half-heartedly, "You know, going place to place and making new friends. Going on unexpected adventures to help people while making silly face and jokes along the way."

Sora started applauding for the three of them, "Wow! That's amazing, none of you guys were wrong! That's exactly what I usually end up doing when I'm traveling around, for better or for worse."

"Wow, so you've saved princesses before?! That's so romantic~!"

"You've gotten into space battles?! You've got to tell us what that's like!"

"Did you and one of the princesses you've saved fall in love and live happily ever after?" Glimmer got that dreamy look again.

Adora smiled and shook her head as she watched the three of them in somewhat envy. If only she could make friends as easily as he does. Maybe if she tried acting the way he did a bit more, it could come a bit more naturally. She laughed as Sora's face got red and he covered it up a little.

"I mean, we haven't gotten to living happily ever after yet, and love is such a strong word...but I think she _like_ likes me too. There's also a lot of big stuff happening right now, and also she's not exactly a Princess princess like you, but I guess technically speaking..."

"Woah!" Bow put both hands on his shoulders, "For real?! You and a princess together?! Dude, nice!"

Glimmer shoved him out of the way, "Oh my gosh! You've got to tell me how it happened! I bet it's such a sweet story~. What's her name? What kind of powers does she have?"

Sora became even more red and flustered. "T-tell you what. Figure out how to set up a tent after we show you, I might tell you a little about her."

While uncouth, Glimmer didn't care as she pumped her first and dove at the camping equipment, "You're on! And you better not be making this whole thing up too!"

* * *

Donald and Goofy gave a relieved sigh as they finally made it back to port. It's been an adventure and a half with the sea captain Sea Hawk, a man though not quite as unusual or eccentric as Jack Sparrow, is far more reckless and energetic, which spelt some trouble for them for the past few days. Whenever they met a rival ship delivering goods, Donald always had to talk the man down from lighting his ship aflame and ramming them, and that was just the start.

There was another incident where Donald and Goofy had to dive after the captain as he tried to swim down to fight a shark bare handedly. Goofy was able to bash it away with his shield.

And another time when a giant squid attacked their ship and the two had to pry Sea Hawk off one of its tentacles as he tried to gnaw it to death. Donald was able to zap it away with his thunder magic.

Now that they were back at shore, they could start calculating the pay they've earned while also looking for a crane to salvage for ships, but first rest. The sun was about to disappear from the horizon as they set up their hammocks on the coast further away from other the sailors on shore leave.

"Gawrsh, sweet land, finally" Goofy commented to himself and he patted at his bed before climbing on. Unlike Donald, he had a bit of a hard time adjusting to constant rocking from the waves.

"A phooey, you just haven't grown into your sea legs is all. You'll get to like it soon, you'll see" Donald tried to assure him.

"Oh well,we'll see. For now I'm just looking forward to seeing the moon for once. It's been nothing but cloudy since day one, and I miss seeing the moon and the stars. It just reminds me I'm not too far from Maxy when I look up there."

"Ooooooh, I miss Daisy and the boys too, but they have to wait. This mission is too important to fail, but we'll get to see them soon. I promise."

"Gawrsh, thanks Donald. I think I really needed that." Goofy rolled on to his hammock. "So tired, not sure if I can even stay up to see the stars...Zzzzzzz, Zzzzzzz~"

Donald twisted his head over to look at his friend, already he was out. "Oh bother." Donald watched the moon calmly, it was a nice crescent moon, so perfectly shape. Very relaxing. He maybe watched the moon sitting alone in the night sky for an hour longer before dozing off, but something off lingered in his mind.

* * *

"Okay Glimmer, it's time for the checklist" Adora announced.

The Princess stood straight and gave a salute, "Ready ma'am!"

"Tent."

Bow poked his head inside her tent before testing its sturdiness. "Check."

"Camp fire."

Sora hunched over and looked at the fire. Logs were set right, barrier was proper, a fair amount of spare firewood was stacked, and two buckets filled with dirt and sand mix to eventually put out the flames were nearby. "Check."

"Firewood and fire retardant."

"Also check."

"Food."

Bow walked over to the nearby tree where their food was elevated and was hanging by rope so no wildlife could get to it. "Check."

"And lastly, sleeping bags." She looked at her feet where four bedrolls laid. "And that's a check. Gotta say _Princess,_ you did a pretty good job following through. Even more so since this was your first time."

"Yeah, way to go Glim!" Bow grabbed her shoulders from behind and gave her a congratulatory squeeze.

"Yeah, nice job! We knew you had it in you!" Sora gave her a thumbs up.

Glimmer blushed from all the praise, even more so as the guards off on the side dutifully applauded her as well. "Well, what can I say, I had some good incentive. Now it's time for Sora to hold up on his end of the deal. Start talking!"

Sora crossed his arms before swaying his head, "Hmm, I don't know. I did say might, as in maybe, after all."

"What?! That's not fair!"

"Hmmm, like I said, maybe if you-" Sora had to duck as Glimmer grabbed one of the logs and tried to swing it at his face.

"NO MAYBES! WE HAD A DEAL!" She tried to swing again and started chasing Sora around their small campsite all the while as she kept swinging and teleporting.

"Okay! Okay! I was only joking! I'll talk, I'LL TALK!"

Glimmer looked like she was gonna relax for a moment, but then she held of the large piece of firewood and squinted at him, "I'm watching you" she threatened, but sat down all the same. Sora, Adora, and Bow joined her and together they all sat around the campfire and listened as Sora told his tale of Destiny Islands and of he and his best friend Riku meeting and befriending a mysterious girl that appeared out of thin air one day named Kairi. How ten years had passed by and how almost everyday they would all get together and play on their small little playground island. Sora thought for a moment before he shared about the day they started building their raft to try to see other worlds and the dark events that followed. He didn't get too much into detail about some of the worlds he, Donald and Goofy visited (saves those for next time) or how Riku went off the super deep end as he was possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He did tell them instead of the evil fairy Maleficent and how he put a stop to her, of how he saved Kairi before leaving her back home to try to find Riku who got lost in the Darkness. For Glimmer's sake he did also talk a little about how and when he and Kairi were reunited and how they become closer after that.

"Wow, that is an amazing story!" Glimmer swooned, "And such a romantic story. I wish I could have a fairy tale ending like that, too, one day." She gave a discreet glance over at Bow as he stared at Sora with sparkling eyes.

"Dude, that is so cool! All those awesome fights and world saving, I wish I could do half the stuff you can do!" Bow stood up before trying to imitate some of the scenes Sora described to the best of his imagination with sound effects. "Seriously man, if there is a way, point me in the right direction and I'll do it. No questions about it."

Sora crossed his arms as he thought about it. "Well, if you're super serious about it...The place I was trying to get to, Olympus, has a legendary coliseum that attracts the greatest warriors from every corner of Creation to come and fight. If you really try to will it, that's how other warriors have made it their, or so I've heard. If you do make it, there's this one guy named Phil that can get you started. He's called the trainer of heroes, he actually helped me a lot with some of my training, too."

His jaw dropped as he thought in wonder, "Phil, the trainer of heroes...SO COOL!" Bow closed his eyes and brought his hands together before chanting "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can."

Glimmer tackled him down, "No, stop! What happens if you actually do disappear?! I need you here, you jerk."

He held his hands up defensively, "Easy Glim, I'm pretty sure I won't disappear just like that."

"I wouldn't say that" Sora chimed, "I've known people that have."

Glimmer put her hands on her hips and gave Bow a glare, he gulped and admitted "Okay, so say I do end up there. The worst thing that can happen is that I come back stronger than ever and I'll be a hero!"

"No."

"I'll be back to help finish the fight-"

"No!"

"Then everything can be-"

"NO!"

He crossed his arms and pouted, "Geez, fine! As if I can ever win against you anyway."

It was then that Adora made her presence known again as she fall back from her seat laughing. She pointed at them and struggled to get out, "And you thought Sora and I were the comedy team! Watching you guys is hilarious!"

Sora jumped between them while looking upset, "Wait a second! Adora, are you admitting defeat?! Letting them take the Laugh Crown?! What is wrong with you? I thought you never gave up!"

She sat there red faced as she tried to laughter, letting out a snort here and there. "Sure, I'm competitive, but I don't mind losing here and there."

"Liar! I know for one you never like to lose at anything! You and me, Adora, we are gonna dethrone these two and take that crown for ourselves!"

"I *snort* think I'm really fine with losing-"

"No!" he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close, "I'm telling you, We're! Not! Losing!"

The back and forth between the four of them went on for a few hours more as they all continue to share the laughs. Eventually it was getting late and they all started getting ready for bed. It wasn't long after before they began nodding off and fell asleep. Sora and Adora were the last ones awake.

"Hey Sora?" she called out quietly, hoping he was still awake.

"Yeah, sup?" he responded sleepily.

"You and Kairi...how did you eventually know or decided that you _like_ liked instead of just like?"

He was in the middle of yawning as she asked, and cough and choked a little, he was quick to calm his fit down. "Um, uhhh, I'm not too sure how or when. All I know was there was a time that I liked her and somewhere along the time I really liked her. I don't know if it was there the whole time or not. The heart is funny like that, you know." His glowing face was hard to miss.

Adora thought about it for a moment, a small blush growing around her cheeks and ears, "And how did you know that she liked you back?"

"...I'm really not sure. Even before my first adventure, there was just something special felt between me and Kairi. It was just...something I felt in my heart." He turned and looked at her for a moment, she was looking up at the night sky. She soon noticed his gaze and blinked hard before looking back at the sky, her blush getting worse. "So why do you ask?"

She turned over away from him, "Nothing. I'm going to sleep now. Night" she ended the discussion there and then.

Sora decided to let it go for now and relaxed himself and he looked back at the sky. He tried not to think about Kairi and Riku, Donald and Goofy and the King, about Yen Sid and the mission he was on to save all those whose lives were ruined by Xehanort. 'Damn. I'm thinking about it now. Reeeeeaaal heavy stuff. Blah, blah, blah. None of that thinking is gonna do me any good. Just need to sleep right now. Maybe I can start counting stars, that always knocks me out. Let's see…wait, what?'

Sora sat up before rubbing his eyes and looking back up again. The sky was still blank. Nothing at all besides the moon hanging there. He started into the fire before back to the sky. Nope. He rolled off his spot before trying to trying from a different spot, when that didn't work he tried to cross the courtyard. Still nothing.

Adora, who hadn't fallen asleep yet, sat up and watched him oddly. "Sora, what are you doing?"

His head snapped at her before he ran up to her. There was urgency in his voice, "Adora, where are all the stars?!"

"Um, stars? Like the small lights in the sky?" He nodded his head vigorously. "The stars that no one has seen in centuries?"

Sora's eyes began to shrink, "Huh?"

"Yeah, no one has seen stars in forever."

Sora was still for a long moment before he ran and jumped on Bow and Glimmer. "Guys, guys! You've seen the stars before, right?!"

Very clear as day, the two were not pleased by the rude awakening. "Sora what do you think you're doing?!"

"Yeah man, not cool."

"Guys! You've seen the stars before, right?! RIGHT?!"

"Come on, dude, why didn't you bring up that fairy tale when we were awake?"

Sora looked at Glimmer, only to see she wasn't going to add anything positive or hopeful. He quickly ran away and up the wall to where the guards that were watching them were. "You guys have seen the stars before, right?!" The two stood back nervously from the young man before carefully shaking their heads.

Adora, Glimmer and Bow watched in worry as Sora ran away from the two guards and disappeared into the castle. They could he him opening a door and yell out the same question as before until he clearly moved on to repeat the process.

The two turned to Adora before asking "So, what's going on with him?"

"Something really bad that none of us has realized all this time, I think...and afraid?"

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?! WHERE THE HECK ARE ALL THE STARS?!" Sora's voice echoed all over Bright Moon.

* * *

"WHAAHAHAHAAAHHAAA!"

"Donald, what's wrong?!" Goody hopped of his hammock and leapt to the wizard's side.

"Look up at the sky Goofy!" Donald pointed up.

He looked up and tried to search for what Donald was pointing at, but even squinting he couldn't see anything up in the dark sky. "Gawrsh, what am I looking for?"

"The stars Goofy! The stars!"

Goofy blinked twice before looking him, then it hit him like a train, "Oh no! They're all gone! Does that mean the Heartless are taking over the worlds again?!"

"But they're all gone at once?" Donald didn't know what to make out of it. Not even the Heartless can work that fast, unless Xehanort somehow had a hand in all this. But it didn't make sense, not now that they knew his objective. Destroying worlds didn't follow along with any plan that would force the Seven Guardians of Lights to clash with the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. Something wasn't adding right.

"Gawrsh Donald, I'm getting scared."

"Me too Goofy. We gotta get the Gummi Ship back together and find Sora, pronto!"

* * *

"What is the meaning of all this?! You'd better have a good explanation for all this, young man?" Queen Angella glared down at Sora as he lead the small group of friends to barge in to her personal bedchamber. Not in so many years has anyone even seen her in her nightgown let alone her chambers. The guards even knew to enter her room only in the most critical of emergencies, nothing less than that.

Glimmer nervously stepped forward, "Sorry mom, but he insists that it's an end of the worlds kind of emergency. He's really worked up and panicked about it."

"It is that kind of emergency!" Sora stepped forward, "I'm real sorry about the intrusion, but I need to know where are all the stars?!"

"So sorry mom" Glimmer moaned out.

The tall Queen put her fingers to the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh. She placed her hands at the hips and bent down to meet him at eye level. "Really, this is your terrible emergency that couldn't wait until morning?"

"Please, you have no idea how important those stars mean. What happened to them?"

Queen Angella let out another sigh, "I can't believe that this is happening. From what my mother told me what her mother told her from before was that there was a terrible tragic event where the sky lit up, the world shook like never before, and the stars disappeared forever. That was supposedly over two thousand years ago, other than that story told from tongue, there is no other history, recorded or otherwise, ever found or discovered. Are you now satisfied?"

Sora took a deep breathe, "Oh boy, oh boy. Two thousand years? That's still after the Keyblade War I think, right? Okay, so this is the big problem everyone, before I arrived here, in every world I've ever visited and been to, there have always been stars. In fact, for each star you see in the sky is actually another world out there. The fact that there aren't any stars now is _really_ scary for me right now because on my first adventure, stars were disappearing one by one. What was happening was that these terrible dark monsters called Heartless were conquering and actually devouring worlds. With the help of my friends, I managed to put a stop to it and bring back all those worlds destroyed by the Darkness. Please tell me you see where I'm getting at with all this?!"

Adora, Glimmer and Bow looked more than a little concerned with the revelations of the happenings outside their world, more so with the lack of stars with this new knowledge. Queen Angella turned back into her room before looking out her window up the night sky. She was quiet for a short moment as she pondered his words. "If you what you speak of is true, then there is good reason to be concerned. In all my years, never once did I ponder of what there once was in the sky, what stars could have been. I thought I was being told of a useless story, a myth that would have no bearing or impact on anything."

Glimmer was getting nervous, she's never seen her mom like this before. "Mom, are you okay?"

The Queen turned back to the group, her face incredibly passive, doubtlessly accredited to her centuries of ruling. She strode back to the four and gently pulled her daughter into a small hug. "Yes, of course I am sweetie. Whilst the revelation can be a bit disconcerting, from where I stand it doesn't change much."

Sora's jaw dropped, "Doesn't change much?! All the stars I.E. the worlds are missing! How does that not change much?!"

Queen Angella let out a tired sigh as she let go of Glimmer, "The moon will still set as the sun will rise from the East. Rain will still fall down from the sky and surely accompanied by thunder and lightning occasionally. Animals will still frolic through the forest as we aim to hunt them to feed ourselves. Our war still rages on with no end in sight still, nothing has changed for our world."

"But-!"

The Queen gave him a stern look, "Sora, the stars have been gone for millennials. Nothing has changed for our world. That is all I find myself concerned with. I'm afraid I can't burden myself with the affairs of other worlds."

Glimmer couldn't believe with what she's hearing, "Mom?! Are you even listening to what you're saying?! If what Sora's saying is true, something terrible is happening to countless worlds, where countless people are being affect and worse!" She gulped as her mother put on her angry face.

"And what do you expect me to do?! Magically save all the the worlds in Creation when I'm failing to defend our own world?!"

"But, but-!"

Sora stepped in between the two, "Stop! Stop, please. Glimmer, your mom is right. Queen Angella, you're absolutely right. *Sigh* There's in fact a law for world travelers: Do not meddle in the affairs of other worlds. I'm exempt from the rules because I'm a Keyblade Wielder, so I can't expect much from you or anyone else on that matter." Sora let out a heavy sigh, "This is only for me to worry about. I shouldn't have bothered you with this. I really do need to prioritize fixing my ship though, and finding Donald and Goofy too."

Queen Angella turned around and sat at a small table. She gestured for him to approach and sit across her. He complied with a solemn look on his face. "In my very long life, I've encountered many people with different kinds of personality and background than I'd care to count. I've roamed the lands of this world and seen much of what it has to offer, yet still secrets waiting to be found. I like to think you are one of the most unique things I've encountered in a long time, I'd be a lot happier if it weren't under such dire times for the two of us." She leaned back and let her wings stretch out before trying to relax again. "I truly do wish I can be of greater help, and I am thankful for your understanding and service to me, but I am sad to say I cannot offer much of anything substantial in aid. I do, however, think I point you in the right direction of someone who can."

"You can?! That's great!" Sora excitedly stood up from his seat. The motherly Queen gave him a look to tell him to sit back down. He sheepishly did so, "Sorry. So that's great. Who is it you think that can help me?"

Queen Angella gave a small grimace, "She's...a unique sorts, a lot like you in that regards. I'm also afraid that's what alienated her from the rest of the Princesses and Royal line. She is Princess Entrapta of Dryl, and she fancies herself as a scientist and an inventor. She immerses herself in her research of the First Ones and dedicates the rest of her time to inventing all sorts of machines. Perhaps you could persuade her into assisting you in locating more missing pieces of your ship and repair it too." She paused for a moment, "I doubt you could, but perhaps you could persuade her in joining the Princess Alliance as well. I'm rather doubtful given it would take away her research time, but you never know."

* * *

"...I mean such a huge deal in the Etherian Inventor's Community. I mean I saw her once before at a convention, she brought a huge Firsts Ones' robot, or at least its arm and head attached to a new body, and had it repurposed to build walls. We're all pretty sure it was a combat robot, so all the more impressive if it now builds instead of, you know, blowing people up!" Bow finished his long story about Princess Entrapta, whom they were now on their way to see at her castle. They all walked along a rocky, ocean side path.

"Hey, that's pretty cool. Where's the robot now?" Adora asked.

Bow sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Um, last I heard, it blew itself up." Sora, Adora, and Glimmer gave him a deadpan look. "What?! Sure it failed eventually, but no one else has even come half as far as she has when it comes to ancient tech."

"Yeah, I guess that deserves some props" Adora conceded.

"Wait, what were you doing at there for? At the convention?" Sora suddenly realized.

"Uh, hello?" Bow pulled one of his arrows from his quiver, "Did you forget how awesome my trick arrows were during our fight with the giant robot bug, or during our fight with the Horde when saving Plumeria?"

"No way I'd forget. Some of those arrows were really cool!"

"Well, who do you think made them? Only yours truly!" Bow thumbed to himself.

"What?! No way, you made them yourself?"

"Yeah-uh!"

Sora smiled before elbowing Glimmer, "Hey Glim, those trick arrows could have _fooled_ me! Get it, because they trick?"

Glimmer sent him a glare, but said nothing as she walked ahead of him.

"Glimmer?" She let out a huff and kept walking. "Come on! Why are you still so mad?!"

She turned around and pointed angrily at him, "You tried to summon monsters in my castle!"

~Flashback to the night before~

It's been less than an hour since they left Queen Angella's bedchambers, and the gang were having a bit of a hard time falling back asleep. As they waited around their campfire, waiting for sleep to take them, they suddenly noticed that Sora was absent and weren't sure how long that was the case.

After a short bit of searching, they found him carefully tiptoeing through a hallway with his Keyblade in hand. "Here Heartless, Heartless, Heartless. Keyblade Wielder tirefully walking around late at night. Would really suck if I got ambushed right about now."

"Sora, what are you doing?" Adora asked him.

"Trying to see if I can get Heartless to appear here."

"Here?! In the castle?!" Glimmer yelped.

"Yeah, why?"

~End Flashback~

"Come on, I told you already! Keyblades and their wielder are like homing beacons for them. I realized last night I haven't seen any yet since I got here" Sora tried to explain himself again, "Usually when I go anywhere, they showup almost right away. Longest time before now was maybe an hour tops, that I haven't seen a Heartless right away."

"You were still trying to summon them in my castle!"

"It was an experiment! It's not as though any showed up, even after I tripped and skidded my knee. I tried so hard to fake cry to see if they would come!"

"You're unbelievable! The monsters you explained that can devour and destroy entire world, you were trying to summon them _in my castle_!"

Adora let out an agonizing sigh, "Glimmer, please would you let it go? Nothing happened last night."

"Really, this broken record is getting really exhausting to listen to" Bow agreed.

Sora got on his knees before giving her a charming smile and batting his eyes at her. Glimmer rolled her eyes, "Guhh, fine."

"Yay!" Sora picked her up in a hug before giving her a quick twirl before continuing down the path.

Her face went a little red before let out a small growl, "Hey, I said I forgive you. So can you please let me down?"

"Nope, not until you super forgive me!"

She let out another sigh before teleporting out of his arms and by Adora and Bow's side. Sora stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. Glimmer did her best to keep a straight face and not give him the satisfaction of making her smile. She failed.

"Hey guys, rockslide" Sora called out. Just ahead of them, the path was blocked by a large pile rocks and boulders.

Bow gave it a quick study, "Guys, we should be extra quiet. If we're too loud, we could set off another rockslide."

Adora immediately ran forward with a child like smile and called out, " _For the Honor of Grayskull_!" After the usual explosion of color and lights, Adora as She-Ra busted through the block pathway.

Bow held his face, waiting for the impending rockslide, none came however. Sora stood besides him and commented, "You know, if she didn't do it, I would have debated on doing the same thing."

"Whoo! Getting the hang of this!" She-Ra cheered.

"Why?! That was incredibly dangerous! If we aren't careful, we could knock the entire road into the ocean!"

"Come on, what's the big deal? It worked and nothing bad happened." She turned around and continued on the path.

"H-h-hey, you can't just solve everything by busting things down with your magic! What if you really did cause an avalanche. What would we have done if the road collapsed into the ocean with us in it? The waves would have caught us in its currents and smash us into the wall. Glimmer and I aren't like you and Sora, we'd be turned into paste!"

That gave her pause for a moment, but she shook it off and kept going, "Yeah, but it didn't happen, so what's the big deal?"

Sora looked over the edge into the waters below with Glimmer besides him. They both grimaced, "So if that did happened, I would have been able to pull you guys out in time, right?" Sora asked himself more than anything else.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that" Glimmer answered regardless.

"Look, I've spent my whole life without powers and got along just fine. Things are just gonna be easier and better now that I'm She-Ra is all."

Sora pushed himself into their argument, hoping to put a calm end to it. "Adora, I think what Bow is just trying to say is 'look before you leap.'" She let out a frustrated sigh, but before anything could be said or done, a bolt of lightning shot out of a tall, castle tower. There was an odd, bright red light glowing atop of it. "Oh look, the castle."

"And she's got lightning!" Bow gushed.

Glimmer looked worried, "That light is the castle's distress beacon, they might be under attack!"

They all looked to each other worriedly, "But there's been no Horde activity in this area though. Queen Angella would have said something!"

"It doesn't matter, we have to help however we can. Let's go!" Sora led the way with She-Ra at his heels.

"Wait! Stop!" Bow called out to them, but it was too late. They weren't sure which one of the two set it off, but who ever did activated a trap door with a bed of spikes waiting for them at the bottom. Sora, with a foot already at the edge out of the trap, was able to grab hold of She-Ra's wrist and yanked her out of the air. The two tumbled over each other on the ground before rolling on their feet, but they were clear of the trap.

Picking themselves up, Sora commented, "Right. Back to 'look before you leap.'"

Bow and Glimmer and out a sigh, "Good, you two are okay. Everyone, we have to all remember, this is Entrapta who we're dealing with. The _tech_ genius, doubtlessly she built all sorts of traps around her home to keep the Horde, or any unwelcome visitors, out. It's even in her name!" Bow warned everyone.

Sora and Glimmer nodded to acknowledge him, but She-Ra put a hand to her face and had a pained look upon her face.

"Hey Adora, are you okay?" Sora asked.

"Something...feels wrong with this place. I'm not too sure why...nevermind mind. Let's keep going."

*SLAM*

"Who's there!" She-Ra challenged while pulling out her sword, everyone else got into a combative stance. Nothing around them moved or spoke out, they relaxed a little.

Glimmer tried calling out again as everyone began to spread out, "Hello?! Princess Entrapta?! I'm Princess Glimmer, my friends are here to help...and maybe try to recruit you to the Princess Alliance!" Still nothing. A second later she yelped and jumped in fright. Looking down at her feet was a dismembered robotic hand.

She picked it up and gave it a curious look over before it seemed to come back to life and started crawling around and managed to grab hold of her forearm. It took several attempt while flailing her arm to shake it loose, and kicked it away when it did. Her friends all gathered around her as they heard her struggle.

"Ah man, I was really looking forward to seeing all the cool traps Entrapta has and maybe use them against the Horde, but this was not how I imagined being introduced to them would be!" Bow complained.

Metal scraping against concrete was heard just below them, someone had stuck their head out of a nearby manhole. "They're coming. You've got to get out of the square!" Having delivered his warning, the person disappeared and slid the cover back into its place.

"Wait, come back! Who's 'they?!'" She-Ra tried calling out. A screeching noise filled the air and made them jump.

They all got ready for a fight as Glimmer suggested nervously "I think we should move further away from whatever's making that sound. Sounds good to everyone?"

"This way!" The four dashed into a nearby hallway before being stopped by a slowly limping, damaged robot. It looked at them before letting out a screech and tried to rush them with its arms out. She-Ra and Sora ran and met it half way before She-Ra roundhouse kicked it towards Sora who bisected it. They thought it was over as the robot was missing its bottom half, but it refused to stop as it tried to crawl toward them. Sora was quick to smash its head into pieces with a swift strike.

The four looked around to see if anymore were coming, they were alone for now. Bow took this as a chance to inspect the machine for any clues while Sora checked the nearby door for any more traps. "It looks similar in design from what I've seen from Entrapta's work at the conventions, but why would it attack us?"

He looked up just in time to see She-Ra rearing her arm to breakdown the down the door with an excited Glimmer supporting her. Sora's back was turned as he was still inspecting the door, unaware that the tall blonde was about to break it down anyways."Really?!"

Sora barely started to turn his head to ask "Really wha-AAAHHHHHH!" The moment She-Ra took a swing, the door and the floor slid back, dropping the three down a trap hole. The trap closed itself up right away before Bow could go after them.

"Glimmer! Sora! Adora! No, no, no! This can't be happening!" He tried to take a deep breathe, "At least Sora's with them. He seems...sensible-ish. But who's here with me?" he whimpered. That's when a pair of arms grabbed hold of him and pulled him into the darkness.

Sora, She-Ra and Glimmer banged into each other the entire time falling down the metal pipe before coming to an abrupt halt as they landed hard in a cage. She-Ra and Glimmer sat on top of Sora who moaned out "My back."

The two quickly got off of him. She-Ra bent down to check on him as Glimmer panicked. "Oh no, oh no! If the three of us are together, then that means that Bow is all alone with those things! We've got to get back to him!"

She-Ra helped pick Sora up before asking, "What do we do?"

"I'll teleport us out."

"But there's three of us!" She remembered how when they first met, teleporting she, herself and Bow knocked her unconscious for almost a minute and drained her of her powers. "Isn't two your limit?"

"I've been practicing, I can do a few jumps before I have to stop for a moment. Besides, unlike last time, I fully charged up before we left. Sora, get ready, I'm teleporting!"

A flash later, the three were squeezed in together in a very tight and intimate space. Glimmer and She-Ra were forced to sit down and squish Sora further. Though Sora could not see it, the position was very compromising and easily put a blush to their faces. "Now my everything! What happened, I can't see?! Are we out?!"

"Gah! What did I touch?!"

"U-u-u-uhhh no, we're not out!" Glimmer tried to wiggle herself free, but _felt_ things become worse. "NOPE! Everyone hang on!"

A flash later again, the three were now standing on a _very_ narrow ledge of a massive cliff where Sora was already more than half way about to fall off. The three screamed as they grabbed hold of each other and teleported again.

A flash later again _again_ , the three, still holding onto each other, were now falling down a different kind of shaft and heading towards a giant death clamp. Screaming, they teleported again.

After their final jumped, the three were still holding onto each, but this time She-Ra riding piggyback on Sora, with Glimmer riding piggyback on her. They heard a cracking noise. "My back!" Sora yelped before falling forward and the girls piling on top of him, hurting his back even more.

The two scrambled off of him the moment they realized that they were, once more, in an awkward position with the boy, albeit not as embarrassing as three jumps ago, but still embarrassed nonetheless.

" _Cure_ " Sora casted on himself, relieving him of backaches. Picking himself up and stretching his back, he noticed the girls patting and adjusting their rear ends. "Wait, what happened?"

"NOTHING!" They yelled in unison. She-Ra turned to the much shorter girl, "And we are official done teleporting in this place!"

"Fine by me! I'm spent anyway, never thought I'd be glad to say that, too."

Sora looked at them questioningly before asking again, "Wait, what happened?"

"NOTHING!" was their same response in unison as before, both their faces glowing a brilliant red.

"...O-kay. So we should probably work on getting ourselves out of here."

"Yup!"

"Sounds good!" The two said as they walked passed him and down the new hallway they found themselves in.

Sora crossed his arms as he tried to make things out, "Wait, what happened?!" He did not get a response and just opted to follow them.

They hardly took any steps forward before a crashing noise sounded out as vent snapped open and a dark figure with glowing red eyes pulled itself through the opening. Sora and She-Ra got into a stance ready to fight as Glimmer took cover behind them with hands glowing with magic.

The tall ominous figure took several steps forward with its long, narrow legs before jumping forward and landing...on a shorter pair of legs? The figure removed its mask reveal a short girl wearing a slightly grease stained shirt. She had magenta colored eyes and extremely long, purple pigtails that trailed along the floor. She honestly looked like she just checked out from work at a mechanic's shop.

"Princesses and other person! I'm saved!" the girl cheered happily as she approached even closer.

Sora immediately let down his guard and dismissed his weapon. He cracked up laughing as he thumbed her, "It's not a killer robot. It's just a girl. Thought we were about to get swarmed by a horde of robots for a second.

She-Ra, too, let down her guard before letting out a chuckle or two in laughter, "Yeah, me too. Thought we were about to fight our way out for a second."

"Wait, Princess...Entrapta? I mean, yes it is. Good to see you're okay. Hope you don't mind, we sort of let ourselves in."

"Then let ourselves out of your cage trap thing" She-Ra cleared her thought and played off nonchalantly.

"Wait, we were in a cage? I only remember being faced down or falling to our deaths."

"Good!" Glimmer snapped at him.

Princess Entrapta maneuvered herself next to them, "I welcome you three to Dryl" she tried smiling for them. "I just want to say from now, things are usually fun around here...and almost never this deadly."

"Question!" Sora raised his hand. "When you say 'almost never this deadly' does that mean it this place is usually deadly, but not to this degree, or do you mean it is this deadly, but happens very rarely?"

She stared at him for almost 30 whole seconds before her apparently prehensile pigtails reached into a thicker part of her lockes and pulled out a voice recorder. "Log 107, I would like to set a reminder to make up a statistic of the deadliness of the castle, rating it of how deadly and the consistency of said deadliness. End log."

Sora, She-Ra and Glimmer looked at her oddly before Sora suddenly got excited. "Your hair is so COOL!"

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait on the story. As you may recall or just reread up my last message to you all, I was packing up and set to move across the country back to sunny LA. Got my PC all packed and ready to go. That's when I get a big o' warning from my friend to extensively check the insurance policies with USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc, and good thing I did. They make it very unclear of what is covered and what isn't when it comes to whole PC rigs. I followed up and read up on forums online about the issue, and read that plenty of times a computer would get damaged and the shipping company refused to cover the damage. Claiming that without the right proof and documentation, they had no way of knowing the PC's condition before it was sent out. They said this despite plenty of pictures being provided. Now I could have taken this as someone wanting to vent and complain, trying to justify themselves, but I came across the same complaint more than once, and while there were more good things said than bad, I wasn't about to take that chance.

I ultimately had to leave my computer several states away back at my old house with the rest of the furniture. I have no clear idea when I'll be able to get it along with the rest of the stuff I had to leave behind. This whole chapter was typed up on my phone! So much I want to get written down, and I have to type it on my phone. *Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggh* I'm sure the lot of you had to type up a long text or even an email on your phone at least once before, imagine getting out 8,000 words. I really love my story idea, and I want to keep writing, but I'm sadly very limited with no computer or laptops I can really borrow. It also did NOT help that I 100% Kingdom Hearts III in almost 80 hours. Cannot and will not comment my opinions on the game other than gameplay is at its greatest in the series. Will be starting on the next chapter right away, so sit tight everyone.

P.S. It's also a bit hard to navigate the browser on my phone, so answering those PM left me a little dissuaded. I'll try to get to those as soon as I can, I have not forgotten about you all. Leave a review to keep me moving forward!

P.P.S. I've gone over and proofread this this chapter, and spell checker is lazy and doesn't want to work. Please excuse the errors you see in here. When I have access to a PC again, I shall return to use that wonderful life saver and get all those errors scrubbed out.


	5. Chapter 5

"So why did you design you castle to be a maze?" Sora asked after who knows how many turns now.

Princess Glimmer scoffed, "Obviously to keep people like the Horde from finding their way through."

"I'm guessing they want one of those gadgets you've built or something?" She-Ra assumed.

"Nah, it's just to screw with people! I've got cameras all over my castle recording everything and anything moving." Princess Entrapta then boasted "I designed every aspect of this castle since I took over, so you can bet I'm the only one who can navigate it. Serious, the footage I have of idiots getting lost is hilarious." She paused to think about it, "It actually wasn't long before they started giving up and the servants started complaining too much. That's when I had to build all my robots."

Glimmer and She-Ra gave a gulp, "Wait, records everything?"

"As in everything everything?"

Something occurred to Sora, "Wait, if your servants kept getting lost, why didn't you just fix up your castle? Or maybe put up signs or a map for them? Then you wouldn't have needed to build all those robots."

The short Princess shrugged, "Well first of all, redesigning the castle would have been way too hard, so that's a no go. Then I suppose I could have made a map or signs or something, but robots are so much better than people!"

"Why's that?"

"Robots can't judge and call you weird behind your back" she answered with a straight face.

"Huh" Sora crossed his arms, "Well, I for one think I'm weird. I think being weird is fun, so who cares! Who's normal nowadays anyway? If you think about it mathematically, there are more people that are considered abnormal than normal, so would that mean it's abnormal to be normal?"

Entrapta snapped her head at before pausing, then like before, the tip of her long, prehensile hair reached in the thicker parts of her locks before pulling out her voice recorder. "Log 108, reminder to make a statistics chart to draw a rate of people that identify themselves as normal versus abnormal, then view answers from oldest to youngest to find a pattern in changes or consistencies. End log."

Sora watched her return her voice recorder, "So cool! The only thing my hair can do is natural stay spiky and good looking." That immediately prompted She-Ra to pull and try to flatten his hair, just to watch it fluff back up to it original position.

"O-kaaaay" Glimmer was starting to get impatient, "So we need to find our friend, he's all alone against, uh, how many robots did you say you had again?"

"First of all, I was never asked how many I had, but I have maybe 359...or 358 ½ since I watched you slice one in half earlier."

"How did you see that?" She-Ra asked.

"Nevermind that! Entrapta, can you help us find our friend Bow?"

She gave an enthusiastic nod, "Absolutely I can."

"Oh! Kitty cat!" Sora exclaimed, "Wait, didn't I say that earlier to the to the same painting?"

"I know, so cute!" Entrapta let out a nasally snort. She paused, "Wait, yes you did, 6 minutes slash 54 turns ago...we might be lost."

"Oh, gee, if only we had that map that was mentioned earlier" She-Ra muttered under her breathe.

"No wait, I do have an electronic map on me!" Entrapta pulled out and showed off.

"Why haven't we been using it then!" Glimmer complained.

"Well unfortunately, like the rest of the machines around here, it sort of turned evil." She turned it over to show the screen and pressed the volume button on the side.

"Turn left to fall over the edge of the cliff and die, then you will have reached your destination. Be sure to rate us from Hell. Good-bye and have a nice day!" said the sweet monotone voice of a woman.

"I think we should listen to the computer lady" Sora joked.

Entrapta raised an eyebrow at him, "Weren't you just listening? It was trying to kill us...oh wait, that was a joke. I get it!" She let out a nasally snort again.

"So yeah, can we take a quick step back and address the elephant in the room?" Glimmer started to asked.

To which She-Ra was more than happy to finish, "Why did you invent an army of killer robots?!"

Entrapta gave her an odd look and acted as though she just finally saw her for the first time, "Hello! You are abnormal tall." She pulled out a tape measure from her locks and measured her height before getting Sora then Glimmer's. She was quick to notice the sword on her back. "Ooooh, nice sword you got there. Looks like First Ones tech, can I poke it a whole bunch?"

She-Ra stepped away, "Uh, yes, I am tall. Thank you for now noticing, And no, no you can not poke my sword or touch it, or whatever you had in mind."

Glimmer gave her a deadpan look, "So wait, you're now just noticing us?"

She let out another snort, "Sorry! I was too preoccupied with trying to figure out how to graph and scale how dangerous my castle is and the consistency of it all. Then there was the oddity rates I was trying to figure out. Your friend with the spiky hair is really full of good ideas."

Sora looked a little more proud then he should be feeling after asking silly questions that only the Dryl Princess would take too seriously.

She-Ra pulled things back on track, "Killer robots! Please explain!"

Entrapta blinked twice, "Right! First of all, I'd like to state that they did _not_ start out that way. They're usually super helpful since they do almost everything. Ah man, it's so cool you guys! Cleaning, organizing, personal hygiene, PERSONAL HYGIENE PEOPLE! I can't even remember the last time I had to brush my teeth, clip my nails, or get the gunk from between my toes and belly button!" The three gagged at that, "They're even sound activated so I don't even have to lift a finger, or hair in my case, here check it out!" She then started clapping loudly.

"NO!" the three yelled at her.

"What?! Why not-ohhhh the kill mode thing, right." From further down the hall, over a giant sweeper droid big enough to fill the hallway began to make its way to them with surely more behind it. "Okay, yeah, that's my fault. My bad."

"Okay, time to run!" Sora turned Glimmer and Entrapta and started pushing them towards the opposite direction with She-Ra at his side. They didn't need to turn around to know that the machine was plowing the hallway apart to get to them, then there was an odd crash. They turned around to see it got caught in some of the overhead railings that served as decoration more than anything. It's head then bent over, revealing a large glowing core, before letting out a terrible screech. While not overwhelmingly loud, it was enough to bring She-Ra to her knees and clutch her head.

"Adora?" Sora and Glimmer bent down while Entrapta studied her machine in fascination.

"I think it's trying to tell us something! Ah man, if only I spoke the obviously superior binary code, then it wouldn't be a problem!" Entrapta climbed on it to take a closer look.

She-Ra clutched her head harder before crying out, "No! Please, make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!"

"That's it! Time to find the off switch on this thing!" Sora turned around and hopped next the Princess. The moment his feet touched the ground, the sweeper bot jerked back before ramming through the ornament it was caught in, knocking Sora off balance.

To make things worse, the sweeper's brush managed to catch hold of Entrapta's long hair and started to pull her underneath. "Nope! Nope, this isn't good! Not like this, NOT LIKE THIS!"

"Hang on!" Sora recentered himself before turning around and jumping forward to catch the Princess and untangled her hair. The robot still plowed forward and threatened to run She-Ra and Glimmer down.

The tall blond forced herself back on to her feet and leapt on top of the machine with Glimmer teleporting next to her. Eying the glowing red core, She-Ra unsheathed her sword before sinking the blade into it. In an instant, the machine died down and She-Ra out a sigh of relief.

That's when a red crystal vine sprouted out the core's wound and wrapped itself around the Sword of Protection. She-Ra let out a shriek as the vines started to climb further up the blade. She pulled her sword loose and started trying to swing the vine off.

Glimmer watched in worry, but noticed that the mystical blue gem in the hilt of the blade started to glow a red color. The exact same red glow the corrupted robot's core had. "Wait, She-Ra stop! Drop the sword! Now!"

She stopped her struggling before she suddenly became as still as a statue. Then from the glowing gen, more red crystal vines started to sprout out before crawling up the entire length of her right arm and a part of the right side of her neck and face. She turned around to face Glimmer with red, glowing eyes.

"Adora!" She tried to smack the sword out of her hand, but She-Ra backhanded her across the face and knocked her down to the ground next to Sora and Entrapta.

"Glimmer?! Are you okay, what happened?" Sora check her face over in concern.

Glimmer's eyes were watering up, "It's Adora! She's-she's-she's-" She was cut off as a familiar battle-cry was shouted out. She-Ra jumped down and landed in front of them with an enraged look on her face, Sora and Entrapta did not miss the crystal vines or the glowing red eyes either.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" was all Sora could say before She-Ra let out another roar and charged at them with her sword ready to swing at them.

"Run!" Glimmer yelled out before grabbing Entrapta and ran as fast as they could. Sora held his ground and parried her blow. "Sora!"

"Go! I'll hold her off!" Glimmer knew not to argue. Even without She-Ra's powers, Adora would be able to catch up to them within moments. If Sora and Bow's stories were true, Sora would be the only one that can hold the possessed She-Ra off.

Once the two were out of sight, Sora tried to call out to his friend, "Adora! What's the matter with you?! It's me, Sora! Your friend, remember?!"

Her response was growling right in his face before headbutting him. Sora staggered back before diving into a dodge roll to evade a wide swing. He jumped back again to avoid another horizontal strike as well. "Oh boy, thank God I didn't get around to trying to teaching her better sword play" he commented as he blocked another swing, "Hey Adora, I know you're super strong and talented and all, but you swordsmanship sucks!"

He dove to avoid another swing that left a small crater on the floor, "Or is it swordswomanship?"

He dove again, but this time between her legs. As he passed through, he grabbed She-Ra by the left leg and flipped her on her stomach, "Don't know if that's a real word or not? I think it should be a real word. No wait, is that sexist?"

She scrambled back to her feet before charging again before they parried once more. As they pushed against each other, She-Ra attempted another headbutt, but Sora saw it coming this time and caught her head with his left hand. Her face became distorted as she snarled and tried to bite at him, "Aww, but you're so unpretty when you're angry like that. Maybe we should kiss and make up!" Sora yelled as he lowered his arm to catch her by the side and vaulted her over his head. "Any of this getting through to you Adora?! Snap out of it!"

When she landed on her back, Sora jumped and swung at her, but she held the hilt in one hand and the end of the blade with the other, blocking the powerful strike only inches away from her face. Using his lost momentum, She-Ra rolled backwards and wrapped her legs between his arm before dropping them both to the ground. She then twisted and made him release his grip on the Keyblade.

Sora cried out in pain as She-Ra let go and started grappling with him. Sora was able to recall his weapon in time as She-Ra attempted to sink in her blade in his chest, and divert it into stabbing the ground. Seeing his chance, Sora kicked her away as hard as he could. The tall girl skidded away weaponless. He was about to gloat before he saw he get into a stance before remembering, "Oh yeah, she's super proficient in hand to hand combat...ah poop."

She came in running at him in a full sprint before before fainting a punch and instead slid and knocked him off his feet similarly to what he did to her earlier. But instead of making a grabbing her sword when he was down, she continued going in with the swings and jabs, which were a lot quicker and less predictable to dodge than her untrained sword swinging. She got several hits in before Sora was able to strike back and push her away.

The two silently faced off against each other before the tall blond wordlessly turned around and grabbed her sword before disappearing down the hallway.

"...Wait what?! Adora, get back here!" Sora chased after her, but came to a halt as the hallway broke into three directions for him to choose from and his friend already out of sight. He sighed, "This isn't good."

* * *

After running as far and fast as their leg can take them, the two Princesses had to stop to rest in a corner area they found. "*Pant* *Pant* Adora *Pant* What happened to her?!" Glimmer wheezed, hot tears in her eyes, "She turned on us and attacked. She looked like she was ready to kill us and everything, but why? She's my friend."

Entrapta was far less winded, being able to use her powerful hair to travel some of the distance. "Umm, I'm not actually too sure. I don't deal with the obviously inferior and squishier mortal body much, but if I had to wager a guess, the tall one was infected by the same virus as the robots. It's actually real quite fascinating if you think about it, how can the organic body be inflicted with a disease that only infect technology? Boy howdy, what I'd do to cut her open and study her."

"The Hell you are!" Glimmer's eyes bulged in anger, snapping her emotions around.

"No, no! I was only saying that in the case of a worse case scenario where most of us are dead anyway and her body in most likely in broken shambles anyways!"

"WHAT?!"

Entrapta immediately shushed her, "Worst case, worst case, which hopefully won't happen. I mean statistically, there are like a bajillion more things that can go wrong before we can even get to that point. So let's try to focus on the positives and what we can do...and maybe collect some more data to study."

Glimmer sent her a glare before wiping her eyes, "Not Adora!" she said firmly. She took a deep breathe, "So what do we do now? You were saying she was infected, was that what those red crystals were? A virus?"

Entrapta tapped her chin with her hair as she thought how to explain, "Alright, let's see. So we found this ancient disc while mining, filled with all sorts of First Ones' codes and programming. I mean seriously, this was a game changer!" The pig-tailed Princess swooned, "Aw man, never has there been any sort of documentation that had so much completed codes and information as this. I mean, wow, before all the evil robot uprising, did you know I was able build a device that could plug in and interface with the UI and not set off every alarm? So cool! Then I was thinking I could-"

Glimmer cut her off, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I think we're getting side tracked. Does this have anything to do with Adora?"

"Oh right, sorry. So as I was experimenting with the disc, it seems I might have finally set off a protocol or a countermeasure against cyber hackers, I.E. me, that triggered a chain reaction in all my bots. All my robots have at least some amount of First Ones' tech in them, be it a literal part or just at least program lines. That's why most of my droid were susceptible and not every last thing in the castle." She tapped her chin further as Glimmer waited for an explanation pertaining to her friend. "I surmise that your tall friend's connection with that sword, made entirely out of First Ones' tech, is the direct cause."

Glimmer snapped her fingers, "So there. We destroy the disc, it stops the bots and give us our friend back. That will work, right?"

Entrapta let out a gasp, "Destroy it?! The experiment is incomplete! We can't stop it now!"

"I'm fairly certain that the experiment is a complete and utter failure!"

Entrapta got on her knees and hugged Glimmer's legs as she pleaded, "But we can't! What if it isn't a failure yet, what if...no, you're right. It's a failure." She picked herself up before dusting herself off. "Man the floor is really dusty. Think if I fix the sweeper droid, it'd be grateful enough to clean this up and not kill us on the spot?" She thought about her question, "Probably not. Robots don't have emotions to feel grateful with. That's usually the great part about machines, never have to worry about hurting their feelings...oh well. Let's go stop the rise of the machines!"

Screeeeeeech! The two looked up to see a smaller monkey shaped robot hanging on a nearby door frame. It turned around and ran off.

"Uh-oh" Entrapta muttered.

Glimmer flinched, "Oh no, more robots?!"

"Well, yeah, there's that, but still worse than that. Pretty sure the little guy just sent a message to all the machines. They all probably know about our plan and are gonna do everything they can to both stop us and protect the lab."

"That's bad!"

"That's really bad. We should run." Screeeeeech. From the direction of where the robot monkey disappeared to, the two can hear a small army's worth of footsteps. "And definitely not in that direction!"

"Run!"

The two took off running again down the endless hallways with Entrapta in the lead. They turned left, right, left, left, right again before ending up next to a familiar family portrait that Glimmer knew that passed once before. "Entrapta! Where are we going?! We've passed by here already!"

"Uh-uh-uh, ummm." She pulled out her digital map from earlier before trying to study it. She tried pressing a few buttons before a nasty face appeared before it typed out some obscene words. "Well that's not very nice!" She promptly tossed the device away. "Alright, it's okay. I just need to bring my heart rate down and focus. I can figure this out."

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

BOOOOOOOOM! Bursting and tearing through the wall was She-Ra, eyes still glowing red and crystal vines still covering her right side. She bore her teeth at them before letting out a battle cry as she charged in with her sword held high.

The two screamed as Glimmer grabbed hold of Entrapta and teleported through the hole her currently former friend made. "Adora, please, it's me, Glimmer! I'm your friend, please, you have to snap out of this!"

Her word fell on deaf ears as the tall woman turned around and charged with a roar.

Entrapta blinked, "Wait, I think I know where we are! This way!" She grabbed Glimmers hand and pulled her down the hall with She-Ra right behind them.

"We'll never out run her!"

She-Ra was closing in fast, her hand already outstretched to catch them and doubtlessly put an end to them.

"No you don't!" Out of a perpendicular hallway Sora appeared and tackled She-Ra to the ground where they both rolled and grappled with each other. "I don't know what you guys did, but suddenly Adora and every robot started running in your direction! You've got to get out of here!"

"Sora!" Glimmer called now, feeling so much better knowing that Sora was still okay. "We figured out how to stop all of this! We need to get to Entrapta's lab and break a disc!"

She-Ra kicked him off before trying to dive at the two Princesses, but Sora was quick to be back on top of her. "Great! So hurry up and run, or did you miss the part about more robots?!"

It was too late, down the hallway Sora appeared from and the hallway Glimmer and Entrapta came from, was a full army of robots.

"Too late, they're already here! Shoot, we were so close to my lab too!"

"Then just run for now!" Sora's struggle just became exponentially worse when the robot army joined the fray. A larger robot picked him and She-Ra up with its one massive arm and smashed them both into a wall, separating the two. She-Ra scrambled back to her feet as more robots began to dogpile Sora. "Hurry, GO!"

"We can't just leave you!" Glimmer cried out as She-Ra jumped in as well.

" _Thunder_!" he called out, but nothing happened. "Gah! I'll be fine! So. Just. GO!"

Glimmer looked like she was ready to cry, but she sucked it back up before grabbing hold of Entrapta and teleported back in the opposite direction of the lab. "We'll find a way to save you and Adora! I promise!" she called out one last time before they disappeared around the corner.

The two Princesses kept running, trying to put as much distance of the shermish from them. "Entrapta, we need a new plan now!" she exclaimed as they ran. "What do we do now?"

The pig-tailed Princess thought as hard as she could as they turned into another hallway. "I don't know! The only solution, it seems, is getting to the disc. And in the meantime, no new variables has been introduced to the equation of 'how to get into my lab!'"

Just up ahead of them was another group of bots moving towards them. They tried to jump into the next hallway, but there were more waiting for them there. "Back the way we came!" Glimmer shouted, and they doubled back. Turning the opposite corner from where they came, they kept on running. They were becoming exhausted, with no energy to spare if they couldn't stop to rest.

Their run came to a halt for an unfortunate reason, rows of droids stood ahead of them, waiting for their approach. They looked behind to see the rest were catching up from all sides. They were completely surrounded.

"Is this how we're gonna die?!" Glimmer wallowed.

Entrapta looked around desperately before spotting they only possible salvation. "Wait! The vents! But my hair can't reach, can you teleport us up there?!" she pointed to the narrow vents above.

Glimmer grabbed hold of the shorter girl and channeled her magic, but stopped. "No! I don't have enough energy. If I try, I'm probably gonna leave most of our limbs behind."

Entrapta sighed in resignation, "Yup, I guess this is how we go out. You've probably never imagined it, but I have. Very easily in fact. Was sure that this was one of the ways I'd go out." She wrapped her hair around herself and Glimmer and embraced her. "Still doesn't make it any better." Glimmer hugged her back, ready for the end.

Suddenly a smokescreen was dropped, filling the whole hallway with a thin, wispy smoke. That's when a bot's head got sliced off by what appeared to be a serving tray.

The two Princesses blinked, "Wait, what?"

"Kitchen Brigade, GO!" a familiar voice called out. "Teela, get to the Princesses!"

A large, burly woman in a pink apron with seafoam colored hair charged in with a serving tray held up like a shield and batted away several of the bot around them. She swiftly picked them up and pushed back through the line she made.

"Pascal, fizzy drinks!" A lavender haired butler shook a couple of glass bottles before popping the caps, somehow spraying high powered carbonated liquid, either knocking down or shorting out some of the robots near them.

"Cassy, more ammo!" A much shorter girl with a blue bun in chef clothes handed Bow a stack of serving trays, to which he grabbed and started tossing them with, impressively, enough strength to embed themselves in their chests.

A tall droid was about to ambush Bow from behind before the tiny Cassy jumped up with a hand towel and was somehow able to bring the machine down before using a serving tray of her own to bash its head in.

"Okay team, let's regroup!" Bow led everyone the way they came with the surviving bots slowed down from the slippery wet floor.

"Bow! You came for us!"

"Well duh! I'm not leaving my best friends to deal with an army of killer robots." They turned the corner and stopped when they knew they were in the clear. "Speaking of which, where's Sora and She-Ra?"

* * *

After sending the two Princesses away after his failed Thunder spell, Sora was forced to resume slashing and bashing the endless robots. His Fire spells helped a little for crowd control, but nothing too significant otherwise since more robots came to take their place. The real problem came around when he used his magic to cast Cure, not only did he heal himself with it, it also heal She-Ra, which only rekindled her feriousity. Ignoring the thought process of our his healing spell affected his frenemy, he craned his neck back to avoid a boot to the face from the tall woman.

Sora grabbed She-Ra's over extended leg and swung her in a circle before letting her go and crash into the wall. He jumped in the air and tried to bring down his blade on her, but she batted it away before using her free arm to gut punch him. Sora coughed out as he backed away, only to get kicked in the side, sending him skidding on the floor.

"Aw man...if that was just a foot lower, I would have totally throw the gloves off then completely burn them! *Cough* Assuming I'd be able to get up again" Sora wheezed as he messaged his stomach and side before turning himself over and picked himself back up. He looked up at the corrupted Princess, and he noticed that at some point he gave her a black eye. "Oh man, Adora is gonna be sooooo pissed when she sees that shiner."

With a deep growl, She-Ra pointed her sword at him before a magical blast shot out and knocked him flat on his back again. Sora moaned, "I'm thinking we both kind of forgot she was capable of that up until now." He scrambled back to his feet before pointing his weapon at her, "Yeah! Well, two can play that game!" A sudden thought and image came to mind, a useful technique that an old friend taught him that came in handy plenty of times during his adventures. "Duh! I can't believe I forgot some moves too! _Sonic Blade_!" Sora shot forward like a cannon with the business end up his Keyblade pointed forward, as he was propelled and struck at She-Ra multiple times and sending her back.

She-Ra stumbled and looked dazed, and she half blindingly tried to swing at him, but Sora hardly had to dodge. He grabbed her swordarm with his free hand before shoving her as hard as he could into the wall with his shoulder. "Let's try this! _Stun Impact_!" A bright red sphere of energy burst out around him that sent what felt like powerful electricity coursing through She-Ra's body. Her whole body seized up before slumping down the wall. She looked up at him with a blank expression with a sudden bad nose bleed.

Sora let out a heavy sigh, "*Phew* I guess we're done here? Not the way you imagined our first time going at it, eh Adora?!" he air elbowed her, wishing that she was capable of responding. "Wonder if she'll remember anything of this, cause I got a long list one liners I was hoping to try and need feedback on."

CRACK!

Sora looked around for the unsettling noise, it sounded it came from his left.

CRACK!

It came from the right this time, why did it sound like it was right next to him?

CRACK!

Sora felt the floor under his feet give way for a moment. He looked down, "Don't tell me-!" He couldn't finish his sentence as the ground beneath them collapsed and they fell to the next floor down. Obviously all the fighting caused too much damage for the castle to take, probably his last finisher was what sealed the deal.

Sora moaned as his back landed on a stone that jutted out, "Ow! Why is it always the back today?!" He turned himself over to look for the tall blond, she was laying on her side with the same blank expression, she almost looked like a broken doll. That caused a twinge inside is chest for some reason at the thought it. "Hey Adora, you still kickin and screaming?"

She laid there unmoving. He could see her chest moving, so that was a pretty good sign.

"Loser says what?" Still unresponsive. "Fine! Be like that!"

With a bit of a struggle, Sora pulls himself back to his feet. He serious considered casting Cure, but if he were to accidentally heal She-Ra, he'd just be putting himself back at square one. He walked up to her still form, "Lets see if getting that sword away will do anything?"

Sora knelt next to her and tried to pull the Sword of Protection out of her grip, but it was too solid of a grip with the red crystal vines holding it together. "Nope, not coming off!" He laid down next to her and thought as he tried to stretch out and fix his back. "What to do, what to do?" He looked at her before poking at her bloodied nose, "Boop. Okay, we're not making any progress sitting around like this." Sora stood back up, this time She-Ra on his back. "Since you're not going anywhere on your own it seems, take a load off as we try to find our friends." Sora proceeded through the hallways.

* * *

"Coast is clear, still no sign of the tall one or the spiky one" Entrapta whispered to the rest of the group as they made their way through the vent. After a good rest, the two Princesses and the newly formed Kitchen Brigade have now finally made it to the lab through the vents. The Dyrl Princess pointed with one of her pigtails, showing them to the line of robots protecting a large machine with massive red crystal vines sprouting all over. In the center of the mass was a glowing, three pointed star. "The disc is there, in the center of all that."

Bow took a peek, "There? Where all those robots are surrounding?" he lamented. "All those crystal vines are covering it. How are we supposed to break through all that, not to mention all the robots?" Had the situation been different, or more specifically, had he any more arrows, this would be incredibly easy to finish up. All he had was his experimental Sonic Arrow that he wanted to show off, but all it could do is emmitt sonic waves. He can't imagine it being any useful in this fight with its soft-tip head.

"Ohhh! How fascinating!" Entrapta whispered loudly, "Look at my little babies, learning to adapt and protect itself! How cute, it's these kinds of memories that we need to hold on to and cherish."

Glimmer snapped at her, "Stop being impressed that they're learning how to kill us better! We need to find a way to get pass the bots so we can turn it off."

They all huddled together to brainstorm, Bow took the lead. "Okay, so I think the best course of action to take, for starters, is to create a diversion. Now I doubt they'll all take the bait, but if we can at least draw half of them away, one of use could get in close from behind and try to put a stop to this."

"Hmm, no, it won't be that simple" Entrapta gave her input, "Before anything else, we need a way to bypass that crystal. Our sheer, squishy strength won't be enough to crack through the crystal."

"If we can't get through it, what can?" Glimmer asked.

"Probably your two missing friends can, or the awesome strength of machines. But we still have no idea where your friends are, and as if we can convince the robots into turning on their overlord motherbrain. No, what we'll need is-"

It was a little before now that the rest of the Kitchen Brigade tuned out of their Princess running numbers and calculations as they watched the security monitors behind the robot line. They saw on one of the screens a struggling Sora moving through the hallway with She-Ra on his back. He rounded the corner before the screen switched its feed to watch them move further along. That was then on another screen changed and watched Sora and She-Ra from a different angle approach the lab door. Then all screens showed him as he summoned his Keyblade and started banging on the door with it.

"Hello?! Is this the lab we're supposed to assault?! Where is everybody?! Show yourselves evil robots!" was broadcasted throughout the entire lab, getting _everybody's_ attention. Half of the line of robots broke away and started approaching the door while the screen depicted another army moving up to Sora and She-Ra from a different hallway. "Oh yeah?! Bring it on! I'll send you all to the junkyard!"

"Oh boy! That moved our timetable a hell of a lot more than I'm ready for!" Entrapta complained as she dove right back into her intense line of thinking.

"And we still don't have a way to break through that tough crystal" Glimmer struggled to think. "Bow, do you think that your arrow is strong enough to crack through it?"

"No, my Sonic Arrow is too soft tipped to do any real damage."

"Sonic Arrow?"

Bow sighed, "Yeah, it was supposed to be used to create a distraction by make sonic noises that can draw enemies away."

Glimmer blinked twice, "Wait, the same kind of noise that attracts the robots?!"

Bow paused as he gaped at her. "Glimmer, you're a genius!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. He quickly got the other Princesses' attention.

"What?! Huh?!" she was snapped out of her thoughts.

Bow pulled out and her showed her his trick arrow, "I got your robot strength right here...Sonic Arrow" he said simply.

She took a moment to inspect it before understanding what the archer said. She blinked, "Oh my gosh! Yes!"

"Can you pull me up closer to the ceiling? I'll need an angle."

"You got it!" She wrapped one of her pigtails around him while the other reached for a sturdy pipe and pulled them up. Bow took aim and shot his arrow, landing perfectly over the star shaped disc.

One second after the arrow landed, it started blasting a high pitch noise that the surrounding robots couldn't resist. Trying to make it stop, the droids started wailing and bashing against it, soon unintentionally smashing the disc into bits. All of the bots halted for a moment before the red crystal vines broke off and they started to act docile once more.

"That's right! You all better just fall over and do nothing! Sora 18, technology 117, working my way up!" Sora's voice came over the speakers, the security cameras were still aimed at Sora and She-Ra.

"She-Ra! Sora!" Glimmer led everyone out through the lab door to check in on them. Sora had laid She-Ra down as her glowing eyes started flashing and her blank face started to twitch. The gem on the hilt of her magical sword, where the crystals grew out of, turned back to its original blue color. Once it did, the base of the crystal's growth snapped off, and Sora was able to start brushing if off her arm, neck, and face. Once it was all off, her entire body glowed before She-Ra was replaced once more with Adora. Sora let himself fall back down and desperately tried to rest his back.

"Adora! Please tell me you're back to normal?!" Glimmer hugged her close as the blond started to come to.

Her eyes began to open, but looked extremely unfocused and crossed eyed. "Wow, hey Glimmer! What are you doing up there? Hanging around?" Her voice was silly as she started laughing at her poor, nonsensical pun.

"Adora?" Glimmer looked extremely worried.

"Why is Adora acting so...loopy?"

"BOW! Bow, did-did you know-" Adora scrambled to her feet but fell forward as she approached Bow, "Owie, that hurts. Ohhhh, Bow! You've got them on your feet too! Did you knoooooow that you had a heart on your shirt and your shoes. That is sooooooooo weird. I mean, who does that?"

Entrapta bent forward and tried to examine her. She had to bat Adora's wandering hands way from her hair multiple times in doing so. "It would appear to be a side effect from the virus. Again, I'm not that kind of doctor, or any doctor for that matter, but I would guess the effects would weaken as more time will pass. If it doesn't, I ain't got any clues then."

"Oh my gosh, I love your hair! I love the color, I love the shape. It's just soooooo cool!" Adora tried to reach for her hair, but Entrapta slapped her away with it again.

"Yes, but does she have to be hurtful with her words?" Bow complained as he looked a little self conscious of his wear.

"It's okay Bow, I think your shoes look way awesome" Sora complimented, still on the ground. "Hey Adora, what do you think of Glimmers hair?"

She blinked with the one good eye before laughing uncontrollably, "Oh. My. Gosh. I just love looking at her hair. It so, so short, but it's like I get lost in them. It goes on forever because it's like, ALWAYS sparkling!" She then whispered really loudly, "Does it feel sparkling when you wash it?!"

"See, she isn't always going to be mean. That's two compliment against one insult. Two and a half if you want to count what I said."

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Glimmer asked. It doesn't look like they can start traveling again any time soon.

"I guess you guys can stay here the night" Princess Entrapta suggested. "I mean, you did save my entire castle-" A part of a hallway collapsed behind her, she didn't even turn around to acknowledge it, "most of my castle and saved my very limited staff." She gestured to the nearby Kitchen Brigade. "Yup, letting you guys stay for as long as you need won't even begin to cover what you've done for me today!"

"So cool!" Bow gushed, "I have so many questions I want to ask you, and I would love a tour around your castle since it's not trying to kill us anymore!"

"Speaking of questions, I have one" Sora reminded everyone he was still here and laying uselessly on the ground. "So last time I used my healing magic, I ended up healing Adora or She-Ra or whatever. Made things way worse for me! Think it's safe for me to try again? Cause the floor is really cold and really hard, and I am serious hurting over here."

The two Princesses and the archer looked down at the giggling Adora, whom was poking at her swollen black eye repeatedly despite her small 'ows' after each time.

"Maybe I should keep this away, just in case." Glimmer picked up the Sword of Protection and took a few steps back. "Okay, go for it."

"Finally, _Cure_." Above everyone, a bell shaped flower bloomed and showered them all with green energy. Suddenly, everyone's injuries, big and small, was quickly healed, including Adora's black eye and Sora's back. "Finally, my poor aching back. Seriously, what did I do to deserve all this backache?!" He got up and stretched his back.

Princess Entrapta once more pulled out her voice recorder, "Fascinating! New log, Note: without the First Ones' tech sword's influence, the tall one designated as She-Ra/Adora, has grown drastically shorter, less muscular, and less skimpily dressed. The spiky hair one designated as Sora, is also able to produce a spell that is able to restore and heal wounds by showering subjects in need with a misty green glow. Will attempt to get a sample to attempt replicating. Potentially opens a whole new world for medical technology! End log."

The Princess then swapped out the voice recorder for a couple of tubes and beakers, "Sample! Sample, sample, sample, sample!" She held them up to Sora while bouncing on her heels.

He looked taken back, "Um, takes a little while before I recover enough magic to cast that again."

She gave him a toothy smile before invading his personal space and leaned against him, "How much longer?" She let out a nasal giggle, struggling to wait.

Sora took a nervous step back, "Not too sure, it varies often. I'll let you know when."

"Please do!" She moved to and elbowed Bow and Glimmer, "Don't you just love this guy? He just keeps feeding me more and more research ideas. God I love him!" She pulled out her voice recorder again, "Add to log: Take up biology as a side project. Also add syringe to extract DNA to study Sora's unique physiology."

"What?!" Sora started shaking his hands, "What, no. You should stick only to engineering, wouldn't want to distract yourself, would you?"

Entrapta put a thoughtful hair tip to her chin, "No, I suppose that's a good point, but what else is there left for me? I've been rather uninspired as of late."

Sora faked looking at her as though she was crazy, "Whaaaa? No way, there is always so much to do. If you think you're running out of ideas, just ask one of your programs what they think you could try next."

The Princess let out a nasally snort, "Ha! Good one. Please, the best part about robots is that they don't think or feel."

Sora was genuinely offended by that, and his face showed it. "Who told you that? A very dear friend of mine named Tron is a computer program, and he thinks and feels just like you and me."

Glimmer and Bow, who were tending to the out-of-sorts Adora, looked at him with raised eyebrows like Entrapta. "Huh, how in the world did you become friends with a program?! That doesn't make sense."

"After my friends and I set off a security measure, a supercomputer shot at us and converted us to data before pulling us into the virtual system. That's how we met Tron."

Entrapta looked at him skeptically, "...Are you being sarcastic?" she asked him coyly.

"No, I'm being for real! We met Tron and we taught him the true meaning of friendship, and he's been doing everything he can to help my friends since."

Entrapta's eyes began to go wide as she started to believe him. Her mouth began to gape like a fish, she tried covering it while pointing to him multiple times as her excitement went through the roof.

Sora was beginning to see the ramification of his words. "I believe I have errored." He turned around and tried to run for it, but the Princess's hair already ensnared him and she wrapped herself on his back. "TAKE ME! TAKE ME TO THIS SUPERCOMPUTER THIS INSTANT! YOU'VE PERFECTLY ENCAPSULATED MY DEEPEST WISH AND DESIRE! YOU CAN'T _NOT_ TAKE ME WITH YOU AFTER TELLING ME THIS!"

"GET HER OFF! GET HER OFF!" Sora struggled and flailed as her vice grip began to tighten and slowly started choking him.

"NEVER! Only until I'm introduced to the supercomputer with a material to data convertor will I ever be sated and fulfilled!" Entrapta managed to tangle her hair around Sora's legs, dropping him to the ground.

"SOMEONE SAVE ME! ADORA! GLIMMER! BOW!"

Sora's pleas fell on deaf ears as he was able to roll himself into seeing the trio. The three we on the ground, laughing and openly pointing at him. Though oddly enough, Adora's attention was captured by a dismembered robotic arm she was playing with.

The shorter Princess wrapped her arms around his head before locking him up. "Are you gonna take me greatest machine in all the land or not?!"

"Where was all this strength back when we were fighting against the evil robots?!" Sora wheezed out, but she still didn't let up. "Not here! Not here!" he gurgled, "Fix ship! Need to fix ship!"

"SHIP?! WHAT SHIP?!"

It was then that Glimmer and Bow stepped in to help. Doing her best to calm herself down, Glimmer began to explain, "That's *Pant* the whole reason we tried to come see you in the first place."

"Yeah. Now this is gonna sound crazy-" Bow started.

"Soooooo crazy!" Adora stumbled by, swinging the robotic limb before tripping. She was ignored.

"But Sora and his missing friends came from another world on their _spaceship_! A real, actual spaceship!"

"WHAT?!" A little bit of foam frothed at the Princess's mouth.

"Yeah! I know! We have a good chunk of it back at Bright Moon Castle!" Bow exclaimed.

"But we're still missing a good amount of it, and Sora doesn't know the first thing about fixing it or putting it back together" Glimmer continued, "And that's where you come in..." Glimmer nervously tapped her fingers, "And maybe we hoped that you could join my Princess Alliance?"

"...Will I get to come back with you guys and see the ship?"

"Yeah you do!"

"YES!"

Glimmer excitedly pumped her fist, "Yeah! Wait, yes for the spaceship or the Princess Alliance?"

"Yes to both!" Entrapta finally let go of the blue faced Sora as she jumped up and down excitedly on the poor boy's back. "This is gonna be so amazing! I'm now a Rebel, I get to work with a real spaceship, and I get to spend more time with my greatest research subject ever! THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"

"Even though your robots turned evil and destroyed maybe a quarter of your castle?" Glimmer asked with a raised eyebrow.

Entrapta shrugged her shoulders, "You know what they saw, 'failure begets success.' And boy did I fail hard today, but it was so worth it for this!" She then nudged the prone Sora with her leg, "Isn't that right Sora? Huh, huh?...Sora?" She stared at him for a moment before screaming "OH GOD, HE'S NOT BREATHING!"

"WHAT?!" Glimmer and Bow shouted.

Entrapta turned him over and slapped him three times across the face to revive him. Nothing. His face was blue and his appendages twitched. "Oh no, somebody do something!"

Teela and the Kitchen Brigade, who stood away from the conversation between royalty, ran forward. The Burly woman picked up her Princess and placed her aside. "Don't worry Princess, I've got this!" She stood besides him for a moment before propping her elbow, she then jumped and dropped it down on his diaphragm. Sora immediately lurched forward and started coughing and wheezing, but he was at least breathing again. "There we go, Honey, you're gonna be alright."

Everyone let out a breath of relief, Bow and Glimmer were about to go comfort him, but Entrapta was already back at it with the hugging. "Oh thank God you're still alive! I thought I'd lost my greatest research subject, and it would have been all my fault! I was so close to losing so much opportunity to help move science forward!"

Adora choose that moment to roll herself up to them. She looked at them with a goofy look before giggling to herself, "Ha ha, you were totally like 'Guuuuh' but then that person was like 'Wa-kuuuh,' then you were like 'Bwaaahhh.' Ha ha, soooo silly..." She stared blankly before falling over and passing out.

Glimmer and Bow came up, "Well, at least we don't have to deal with weird, loopy Adora for a little bit."

"Hey man, how are you feeling after all that?" Bow asked.

Sora looked up at him with uneven eyes before he fell back unconscious, pulling the Princess down with him.

"OW!" Entrapta let go and rubbed her forehead, she pulled a couple of metal shards out from her skin. "I probably deserved that." She looked at the two unconscious powerhouses. "So who's up for that sleepover?!"

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, bought a Bluetooth keyboard for my phone! It was so much easier to write this chapter up. This is a chapter that I've envisioned very early on when I first thought of this Crossover, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I think you all will, too. Leave a review to let me know what you all thought of it!


	6. Chapter 6

Donald and Goofy stood together at the end of the pier on Salineas, looking out towards the ocean in disgruntlement. The spellcaster stomped his webbed foot in frustration, ready to complain once more, "I don't believe it, I still don't believe it! That stupid jerk would be the only person in the universe to do something as stupid as this!"

Goofy let out a tired and depressed sigh, "What are we gonna do now, Donald?"

"...I'll tell you what we're gonna do, Goofy. We're gonna quit and hope to never see that big palooka ever again" Donald decided before turning around and started stomping towards town.

"Wait, Donald, aren't we at least gonna let the Captain know?"

"That's too good for him"

"We should at least do something."

"Fine!" Donald looked around before he got an idea. Walking onto the sandy beach, he used his foot to etch into the sand 'WE QUIT!' Dusting his hands, Donald continued, "There, and I think that's still more than he deserves. Now let's go." Goofy nodded before the two left the docks for town.

The reason for the duo's unfortunate and sudden departure from Captain Sea Hawk's crew is because he finally managed to follow through with one of his crazy stunts, fully knowing that his only two crewmates wouldn't be able to stop him in time. While at sea, returning to Salineas, the Dragon's Daughter III came in sight of a familiar rival ship from the past, and while Donald and Goofy's heads were turned, the sea captain had successfully set the ship ablaze and rammed the other ship at full speed. It was only after both ships had sunk and everyone from both sides were safely on lifeboats did Sea Hawk learnt that his competitor had sold his boat and retired, and that he had ultimately sunk a ship filled with travelers trying to make a new life on the mainland.

To make matters worse, aside from losing the Dragon's Daughter III, most of Sea Hawk money, including what was due for Donald and Goofy, had gone to the captain of the other ship and his passengers as raperation. What's left of Sea Hawk's money would now all go into buying a new ship to sail, but the two would have no part of it any more.

"Gawrsh, this is our first time going in Salineas, right? Why does it look so familiar?" Goofy asked while looking around the oddly empty town.

"It sort of reminds me of Atlantica." Indeed the shell and oceanic city did give the same vibe as the underwater kingdom where the trio adventured to before. "But I wonder where all the people are?"

"Hmm, it'll be awfully hard to get some paying jobs if there aren't any people, a-hyuck" Goofy tried to lighten the mood, but did little to alleviate the spooky feeling the city was giving. They've yet to see a single person since leaving the docks.

"HALT! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" a voice called out to them. The two looked around for the source before they found a man running down an elaborate stairway. He came to a stop right in front of them, hands on his knees as he huffed and tried to catch his breath. "State *pant* *pant* your *pant* *pant* *pant*..."

"Gawrsh, are you okay, sir?" Goofy gave a comforting pat on the back. The dark skinned man was tall with dark blue hair that spilled neatly passed his shoulders, and wore a teal, aquatic style uniform.

"Fine *pant*, thank you for asking." The man took a deep breath, "Please state your name and business here in Salineas."

"Well, my name is Goofy, and this here is my good pal Donald."

Donald waddled up to him, "We were hoping to find some work so we can hire a ship with a crane so we can fish out our own ship out of the water. Do you think you can point us in the right direction?"

The man raised an eyebrow at them, "You're looking for work? Here in Salineas? You odd looking strangers must be from somewhere very far away to not hear about our dire situation. The Horde is at our doorsteps and our great and mystical Sea Gate is failing. For well over a thousand years the gate has stood, but now with its barriers fading, everyone has fled our kingdom. The last of the ships had left today, there isn't anyone left here but myself and my charge, Princess Mermista. You've come to our once fair kingdom in its final days, I'm saddened to say."

"Ooooooh" Donald let out a sad whine at his plight.

"Gawrsh! How terrible! I wonder if the Captain knows."

The duck crossed his arms, "Ha! I'm pretty sure he never asked what was in the crates we were moving all this time. Probably everyone's belongings."

Goofy paused in thought, "Wait, I know! Donald here is the Royal Court Magician of our kingdom. Maybe he can take a look at your Sea Gate and fix it with his magic?"

The man looked down at the duck, "Truly, you are a wizard?"

Donald pulled out his staff and showed it off. "I'll do my best to help. My magic is top notch, but this sounds like ancient magic. Those are always the trickiest to work with, so don't get too hopeful yet" he explained.

The man got on his knees to be at eye level with him, "Yes! Of course good wizard! Thank you! Thank you so much! Any help at all is beyond appreciated. My name is Samuel. Please, let me take you to the Princess. She'll have more to say before being able to take you to the Sea Gate herself. This way, please."

* * *

"So, like, who and what are these two you brought in here, and why should I, like, care?" An attractive young woman with braided aqua hair and dark skin looked to be in a bad mood as she sat on her throne with her silver trident.

"Princess, please, these benevolent two are Donald and Goofy. They are travelers looking for work that came here unknowingly of our dilemma. The duck claims to be a wizard that could repair the Sea Gate" Samuel explained.

"I said try to fix! Ancient magic is hard to work with" Donald reiterated.

Mermista raised an eyebrow at him. "So this weird duck thing is a wizard. Sooooooo weird, but whatever. Not like we can lose anything else by letting him try, I guess. We can get to the Sea Gate through here." She stood up and led the way just past a doorway.

"That's rude!" Donald squawked out, but went unacknowledged. Goofy put a hand on his shoulder to help calm him. It helped a little, and the two followed while Samuel returned to his post. After a short walk and climbing up platforms, the three stood in front of a large archway that produced a huge, magical barrier.

"Like, look down over there. You can totally see where holes being made. See where the water is pouring through?" Indeed, down below, water can be seen squirting in as each wave crashed against the barrier.

"Gawrsh, and those holes are all over the place!"

"Yeah, if this keeps up, it'll be totally gone by the end of the week or something. *Sigh* So lame."

"Don't you worry, if anyone can fix it in time, Donald sure can!"

Donald had had enough. Whipping out his staff, he turned around and swung at Goofy's shin. He watched satisfied as the knight yelped and hopped around on one leg. "For the last time, ancient magic is hard to work with, so stop guaranteeing things like that."

With that, he walked up to the barrier and placed his hand on it. He stayed where he was while moving his hand a bit for a good while.

Mermista eventually let out a long sigh, "Like, how looooong is he gonna be at this. It's taking foreveeeeer."

Goofy decided he had enough of her attitude, he turned around and wagged his finger at her, "Come now, is that anyway for a Princess to be talking? Surely your parents taught you better than that."

"Guuuuuuh, come on. It's not as though I ever see either of them. I'd be lucky to be caught in the same room with either one of my parents, let alone them teaching me anything. It was always meet the tutor for lessons this or meet your instructor for that. Mom and dad never cared, like, why should I?"

"Gawrsh, I'm sorry to hear that, but you're a Princess. You have to be above all that."

"My dad was the King, and he dumped this crumbling kingdom on me the first chance he had at the first sign of danger,and ran off. And my mom? I can't even remember the last time I saw my mom without a drink in her hand and too 'tipsy' to talk or walk straight. So yeah, don't really have much to live up to."

Goofy really bristled at that, "Now that's no way for any parents to treat or act around their child like that." The Princess didn't really seem to care about what he has to say, he could tell. "Tell you what, why don't you try to be better than they ever were, not just as the ruler, but as a better person as well. Then one day they'll look at you and think to themselves that they wished they could be half the person that you are. That'll show 'em!"

"Gawwh, how did this turn into a therapy session anyway. It's not as if any of this would matter anyway. If this duck guy can't fix the Sea Gate, the kingdom is doomed anyway." She blew at her hair, "Maybe I should just let it anyway, then I wouldn't have anything to worry about anymore." She watch Goofy put disapproving hands on his hips, "Or not. Whatever! Responsibility is so lame!" She crossed her arms before turning around and sat down on the ledge that overlooked the sea, just past the gate.

The knight walked up to Donald who had all his focus on the gate. "Anything Donald?"

His hand against the pink barrier glowed, "I think so...maybe? How does the gate look now?"

"Lemme' check." He poked his head passed the platform and looked down. "There are still plenty of holes all over, but you know what? I think there are less than before. Think you can keep going?"

The magician wiped at his forehead. "I think so. That much took up a good amount of magic. I think I'm going to need a break soon if I keep going."

Goofy hopped up and down in excitement, "Hot diggity! If we can repair this Sea Gate, think the Princess will help us get the Gummi Ship out of the water as a reward?"

Donald smiled at that, "Oh boy! That'll be perfect!"

"Lemme tell the Princess the good news." Before Goofy could even turn around, Mermista let out a loud whine.

"Oh coooooooome on! I just totally repelled a wave two days ago! All I wanted to do today is relax and do nothing. Is that so much to ask for?!" Across the distance, Donald and Goofy could see a trio of dark ships billowing smoke as they made their approach. On the side, a red, angular symbol marked them as the Horde.

"Gawrsh, is that the Horde we heard so much about?!"

"Those ships look nothing like the ones we've seen before."

Princess Mermista rubbed her eyes roughly. "Yeah. They, like, build their ships out of heavy, thick metal or something. It makes it, like, waaaay tougher to smash into. It is so annoying! Almost as annoying as _him_." She rolled her arms around and stretched her neck and shoulders. "You guys stay her while I take care of them. Hopefully they would kill me and gut me like a fish, cause that would be sooooo ironic. So ironic and sad that I'll be glad that I'm dead so I won't have to listen to people make fun of me for the fact."

"That's a terrible thing to say!" Goofy complained.

"Yeah, well, that's war or whatever. Guuhh, I just want this day to be over with!"

The knight turned to the wizard, "Donald, we can't just let her go out there and fight by herself!"

He nodded, "Right! The Princess might be rude, but she's still trying to do the right thing!" The two went up to her just as she was about to give herself a running start to perform a clean dive into the water. "Princess, let us come with you and help!"

She stood up straight and gave the two an odd look, "You two things fight?"

Goofy ignored her 'things' comment, and answered "We may not look like it to you, but we've gone into battle hundreds of times and almost always came out on top." He pulled out his shield and showed it off.

Donald brandished his staff, "And I can easily zap them away with my magic, no problem! We'll make sure that you're taken care of."

The Princess let out another whine, "Fine, like, as though I'm going to say no to help, but if anything bad happens to you guys, it's, like, not my fault. 'Kay?"

Goofy gave her a thumbs up, "Don't ya worry 'bout us!"

Mermista crossed her arms and looked out at the enemy ships. "So my dominion and magic is water, so what we're gonna do is dive into the sea and I'll push us towards those ships. I can get us on one of the decks and we can start knocking jerkwad heads around. And before you ask, no, I can't just sink the boats. I've tried that, but they have some sort of mechanical pump that turns them right-side-up again and spits out all the water. It is such a drag."

"Right" Donald spoke for himself and Goofy.

"Then get in the water. I have to come in after you guys."

Donald and Goofy both turned and dove into the water, making a sizable splash. When they emerged, they caught Mermista execute a perfect swan dive, barely causing a ripple or splash. When she emerged, she leapt over them before taking the lead in front of them, revealing that she magically transformed herself into a mermaid.

"Wow! You turned into a mermaid!" Goofy got excited, thinking of the last undersea concert he was a part of.

"Yeah, it's a royal lineage thing. It's pretty cool." That was probably the only positive thing Donald and Goofy had ever heard leave her lips. "Hang on, I'm gonna take us to either one on the sides before we hit the rest. They'll totally have us surrounded if we hit the middle ship!" she called out as the three were jetted through the water, moving as fast as a sailfish.

"Sounds like you learned that lesson the hard way!" Donald replied.

"Yeah, I swear I couldn't sit on my damn ass for over a week!"

"Language!" Goofy shouted.

Mermista was about to retort, but they were now near enough to the Horde that they were spotted and now being fired upon by cannons. She began bending the water, twisting and turning themselves to avoid all the artillery, she almost ended up ramming the three right into the middle one. Remembering her hard earned lesson, she pushed them away from the ship and shot towards the right, successfully landing them on the top deck.

All three were on their feet and ready to fight, they took in their surroundings and the enemies. There were nine soldiers fitted head to toe in armor, and four odd looking robots that looked like a large metal ball with legs and a gun attached, all of them aiming their weapons at them.

"It's the Princess!"

"Shoot her!"

Readying their blaster batons, they aimed at them and started blasting away at them, forcing the trio to start moving. Princess Mermista was the first one to land an attack, she swung her trident through the empty air to hit nothing, but a torrent of water launched from the sea and knocked two of the soldiers painfully into the guard rails.

A soldier on the upper deck aimed at her and fired repeatedly, making her backpedal out of the way. She avoided most of the barrage, but Goofy came to her aid and blocked some of the shots with his shield before continuing forward and clashed with one of the droids. It took a couple of bashes before the machine retreated to a more advantageous firing position before taking some shots at him.

Three of the soldiers had come into close range with Donald with their batons raised, thinking that the short statured duck was easy pickings, but boy did Donald prove that idea wrong. The first soldier took a swing, but missed as the magician ducked and painfully swung his staff into the man's side. He then dove away to put some distance from the three before casting " _Blizzard_!" An icy blue bolt of magic collided before exploding into jagged icicles, knocking the three soldiers out. Donald turned his head to see Goofy in trouble as a soldier and a robot were firing as him, his shield just barely being able to protect himself. He raised his staff and cast " _Thunder_!" Two bolts of lightning shot out from the sky and struck the two. It seemed to be enough to knock the armored man out, but the machine still stood, though it did seem to go haywire as it stumbled about and shot randomly in the air.

Mermista was fighting off another war machine as it tried to smash down on her with its two front legs, but each time they came down, the Princess would hold out her trident to block each strike. She would eventually find an opening to snake her way around and climb on top of it. Free from the range of its legs and gun, she readied her trident and stabbed down as hard as she could to penetrate the metal shell and dig into its circuits. When it went down, she leapt off before swinging her leg in a roundhouse kick and knocked the helmet off a nearby soldier. Staring down at a rough looking lizardman, she followed with a left hook and got him under the jaw, scraping her hand on his tough skin. She gasped in pain before the Horde soldier sent his baton into exposed navel and shocked her painfully. She took four painful steps back, "Aargh! You, DICK!" She swung her trident, catching him on the face and knocking him out.

"Language!" Goofy called out as he performed his signature Goofy Bash by throwing his shield at a robot's eye before catching it as it rebounded and followed up with his spinning Tornado Strike. The machine was damaged, but still stood strong as it tried to smash the knight with one of its legs. Goofy caught it with his shield and held it off without too much difficulty.

The Mermaid Princess scoffed, "You are, like, so not my dad!" She launched another torrent of water at the droid, sending it over the edge and into the sea where it sunk. "You can't tell me what I can or can't say!"

" _Fire_!" A small ball of fire shot just past her, making her spin around in time to see another soldier get knocked down in the water below. "Is this really the time to be doing this?!" Donald looked at the battle and saw there were only a lone soldier and 1 fully functioning robot left. There was another robot, but it was current stuck in a doorway, trying to enter the hull. "We might be almost done here, but still have two more ships to go!"

Mermista let out a frustrated shout before throwing her trident like a javelin and impaled the last robot through the eye. The machine stood still for a moment as it sparked before dropping. The Princess walked over to her weapon before yanking it out with a grunt before looking at the last nearby Horde Soldier with her arms crossed and glared. The man underneath that armor threw his weapon down before he raised his arms up. "I surrender!"

The Mermaid Princess smirked before grabbing him by the arm, "Good idea." She then dragged him over and threw him over the edge of the ship. She looked over at the other two ships trying to turn around for them before shaking her fist at them and yelled "I am totally coming after all of you next! You hear me?! Making me do all this work?!" She turned around to meet with Donald and Goofy, but before she realized it, her side exploded with pain and felt her feet leave the ground. She instinctively clutched her side before looking down to see blood spilling out. "God damn it, no…" She was barely able to breathe out.

"Princess!" Donald and Goofy called out. The robot that Donald had sent haywire with lightning before had come back to its senses and fired at Mermista with her guard down. Donald took aim and sent a large ball of fire at the machine where it exploded and was sent over the rails.

Goofy stood over the bleeding Mermaid Princess and looked her over. It was a terrible wound. He helped raise her head a little bit so she could be a little bit more comfortable. "Princess Mermista!"

She clutched at her injury while her eyes watered up. She was doing her best not to cry, but this was easily the worst pain she's ever experienced. "This-this isn't how I saw today going."

"Don't worry Mermista, Donald will patch you up. What did we say before we left? We'll make sure you're taken care of."

"I'm here!" Donald waddled up to them with his staff ready, " _Curaga_!" A bell-shaped flower blossomed above her before showering her with green magic. This was his strongest healing spell, and as expected, it was working its literal magic. Though to prove just how grievous the wound was, it was just barely able to close up the injury. Mermista was pale looking and felt weak. "Are you okay, Princess?"

"Yeah *COUGH* Sure! I only had a giant hole blasted into me!" She clutched painfully at her side in response. Donald and Goofy didn't say anything about it. After experiencing something like that, she was very much entitled to complain however she liked. "And we still have two more stupid ships to go!"

Goofy held a hand out for her and he carefully helped her back to her feet where she stood hunched over. "I'm sure we'll think of something, right Donald?" he asked confidently.

"Right!" he turned and looked up at the control room. "And I think I have an idea. Remember what Uncle Scrooge always says?"

"Um, tougher than the toughies, and smarter than the smarties?"

"No, not that! Always work smarter, not harder. Come on!" Donald ran into the ship, Goofy followed while he half carried Mermista with her arm over his shoulder. The three arrived into the control room where they saw two unarmed men, one of them at the radio desperately talking to the other ships. They turned around in fright as they entered the room and had their arms raised in surrender.

"That's right, you better surrender!" Mermista glared at them. If looks could kill, the two would have exploded into pieces by now.

Donald waddled to the helm before trying to jump up and reach the controls. "Goofy, get over here. I can't reach the controls or see the window."

The knight settled the Princess down carefully on the captain's seat before following Donald's order. "What you have in mind, Don?"

"If we can figure out the controls, we can either blast them or ram their ships."

"Hmmm, let's see here" Goofy looked the controls over, but none of it seemed familiar or understandable. He turned to the two Horde Soldiers, "Do either of you two fellas think you can lend us a hand with this?"

"Like we'd help the enemy like you!"

Donald got his attention, "Do something before the other ships start firing at us!"

Goofy covered his eyes with one hand before blindly using the other to press a button. Nothing seemed to have come from it though. "That do anything for us?"

"Umm, no" Mermista crossed her arms before trying to stand up, only to weakly fall back down in her seat. "Uggh, come on! *Cough* *Cough* Try the dumb lever by the even dumber wheel!"

"Gawrsh, here goes everything." Pushing the lever, the ship jolted forward and surprised everyone.

"Okay, if we can't shoot, we have to ram it into the nearest ship. Then we'll be more than halfway done. Let's do it Goofy!"

"Sorry about this" Goofy tried to apologize to the Horde as he grabbed hold of the round wheel, turning it to face the next ship. "Brace for impact!"

Mermista looked like she was about to cry, "Oh god, I'm having flashbacks!"

BOOOOOM! The two large ships colliding made a deafening explosion. Screeching metal and crashing water was the only thing anyone could hear for almost a whole minute as the two behemoths endured their head-on collision.

Everyone in the control room was painfully flung forward, with Mermista suffering the worst of it. She groggily tried to push herself up on all fours, but she couldn't even muster a real effort. Donald and Goofy were able to shake away the shock before they were at the Princess's side.

"Gawrsh, Princess, are you okay?!"

"Do I look okay to you?!" She snapped as she clung to her side and stomach. She let out a pathetic whimper as the pain pulsated even worse. "I-I don't know how much more of this I can take."

Donald realized that he could suddenly see out of the windows, "Wait a moment...WE'RE SINKING!"

Goofy turned around and looked as well, both their ship and the next were both beginning to tip forward. Already he could see the Horde Soldiers beginning to abandon ship and the third and undamaged vessel trying to fish out their comrades. "Lookie there, Princess, we did it! We sunk their battleships! We've only got one more to go!"

The mermaid let out a pained cough, "Great."

Donald looked at her hold herself in pain. "...I think we should head back now. You aren't in any condition to be anywhere near a fight."

Goofy nodded his head in agreement. "Yup, and I don't think those Horde fellers are in any shape to do anymore fighting either, at least for today."

"Gaaaaaaaah! So laaaaaaaaame! It figures that right before we win we have to retreat." She looked up and stared at them for a moment before her cheeks began to blush. "Donald. Goofy. Thank you guys for, like, helping me...Okay, there! I said it! Can we, like, please go now?!"

The wizard and knight looked at each other before smiling and laughing, making the Princess turn further red from embarrassment. Donald waddled up to the two recovering Horde soldiers. "Scram, you two! Grab your friends and get to your other ship!"

Goofy stomped his way to them, "Yeah! And if you show your no-good faces here again, we'll just do to you again what we did today!"

Mermista coughed from where she sat, "And by that, he means we'll kick your asses and break even more of your expensive looking stuff. So, like, beat it already!"

The two soldiers looked to each other before scrambling to their feet and high tailing it out of there. They could see out the window the two waking up some of their comrades before jumping ship.

Donald and Goofy returned to the Mermaid Princess. "I think it's time we get going, too."

She tried to get up, but stumbled and fell into Goofy's arms. "Argh, like, problem...I don't think I can swim on my own, let alone get us out of here." She pushed herself to her feet, using her trident as a crutch.

"Leave that to me!" Donald boasted.

He led the way back to the deck with Goofy following and completely carrying the Princess, much to her indignation. They didn't see anyone left on board. "Coast is clear. Back into the water!"

"Uh, still can't swim on my own."

"Don't you worry, Princess" Goofy assured her, "I think I know what Don's planning, and I think you'll get a _dolphin kick_ out of it! A-hyuck!"

With that, the three jumped into the water before the wizard pulled his staff out. "Watch this!" With a flash of light, Mermista was forced to let go as she felt Goofy's grip disappeared. She blinked the spots out of her eyes and looked at the two. They were now replaced by aquatic creatures; Donald being a scylla, half humanoid half squid, and Goofy now a large sea turtle, but still retaining his head and face. "Oh. My. God."

"Hold on tight, Princess, I can swim us back to shore."

Donald offered his hand to take her trident from her. "I can take that for you."

She quietly handed it over. "Wait, ummm, like, uhhhh...You can use my family's magic and turn yourself into seafolk?"

Donald looked smug, "What part of top notch spell caster did you not get?"

"Umm, what?"

"A-huck, I don't think she was there for that part, Donald."

"Ah phooey!"

A/N: Hello everyone, and thank you for your patience. I know It's been a bit of a while and I'm sorry for that. Life is chaotic, biggest truth there is, and am I just exhausted from just trying to hang in there. Not gonna bother to try and make excuses, we've all seen them dozens of times already. So yeah, awesome with the new She-Ra seasons and all. Definitely thought up of some good material and amazing lore to tie some big things together with!

Also a little bit of good news, I have the next chapter ready to go, and almost done with the one after! I'm gonna do some more proofreading and get it posted up by the weekend. Enjoy the take I took on with trying to keep most of everyone relevant, and there is still some more work to be done in Salineas for Sora and the gang. Leave a review and some feedback, would love to hear what you guys think of this!

A/N: Hello everyone, and thank you for your patience. I know It's been a bit of a while and I'm sorry for that. Life is chaotic, biggest truth there is, and am I just exhausted from just trying to hang in there. Not gonna bother to try and make excuses, we've all seen them dozens of times already. So yeah, awesome with the new She-Ra seasons and all. Definitely thought up of some good material and amazing lore to tie some big things together with!

Also a little bit of good news, I have the next chapter ready to go, and almost done with the one after! I'm gonna do some more proofreading and get it posted up by the weekend. Enjoy the take I took on with trying to keep most of everyone relevant, and there is still some more work to be done in Salineas for Sora and the gang. Leave a review and some feedback, would love to hear what you guys think of this!

(Edited and cleaned, thanks to Cyclon One)


	7. Chapter 7

"Adora! What are you doing?!" Glimmer shouted as she ran and pulled the young woman away from the window.

"No! I wanted to leave and I saw the window! I want to go outside!" she complained as she pathetically struggled in the much smaller girl's arms.

"So why were you licking the window?!"

"There was a blue butterfly there and I wanted to see if it tasted like blueberries or butter! Then I thought I'd try to eat my way out."

Yesterday, after putting an end to the rise of the machines, they brought the unconscious Sora and Adora to empty rooms to rest in. But because Adora's mental condition was currently questionable, they decided to lock her in for her safety. Everyone had high hopes that she would snap out of it by morning, but to Glimmer's discovery, it was not the case.

The Princess let out a sigh as she let go of the taller girl, "Dang it. Please Adora, tell me you're in there. We can't have She-Ra stuck like this."

She looked back with uneven eyes before blowing a raspberry and giggling in response, "Haha, you got my spit all over your face!"

Glimmer whined in her throat as she wiped her face. "Oh God, what is my mom going to say when she sees you like this." She let out a grunt before grabbing Adora's hand and leading her out. "Come on Adora!"

She let out more giggles in response, "Woah, where are we going?"

"Everyone is having breakfast in the dining hall, we're gonna go see them! Hopefully Bow had better luck with Sora." She suddenly almost tripped when she felt Adora wrap her arms around her and completely gave up on using her legs. "What?! Oh gosh, what are you doing now?!"

"I like hugs! I WANT A HUG!"

Glimmer struggled to stand up straight, "You aren't serious, are you? Come on, Adora, stand up straight!"

"No!"

"Adora!"

"NO!"

"Adora, you are acting like a child! It's time that you mature up and stop playing around! It's time to be serious...oh my God, is this what mother goes through every time she has to deal with me?"

After at least twenty minutes of literally dragging Adora, Glimmer made it to the dining room that was several halls down. The sweating Princess kicked the twin doors open. "Finally, I made it!"

"Yeah, took the words right out of my mouth. What took you so long?" Bow asked, standing up from his seat.

Sora next to him rose, "Seriously, was she that tough to wake up? I thought I was the lazy bum around here!" he joked as he approached. Glimmer entered the hall, revealing the overly clingy girl. "Um, wait? What's Adora's problem?"

Glimmer made a grunt as she successfully pried the blond off, "No! I think the correct wording is _your_ problem!" She shoved Adora onto him whom she immediately clung to. "Your problem now! Shouldn't be an issue since you have your stupid super strength!" She made a beeline for a cold drink and chugged it down, not stopping until she emptied it.

"Ahaha! Your hair is so pointy. Have, have you, like, ever poked someone's eye out with it?"

Bow gulped as he watched her, "Uh-oh. Don't tell me Adora is still-"

"Yes!" Glimmer screeched, "She's just as bad as yesterday, and apparently she's the hugsy type now. Made me carry her all the way over here!"

Bow raised an eyebrow, "Wait, you carried her here? When you can teleport?"

Glimmer's eye twitched before she banged her forehead against the table. "GAAAAAHHH! I HATE THIS DAY!"

The out-of-sorts girl peered over Sora's shoulders, "Oooooooooo, more windows!"

"Oh yeah, I caught her trying to eat her way out of her room through the window...by licking it! Insisted that she was trying to taste berries or something!"

"There was a blue butterfly on the window, and I wanted to see if it tasted like blueberries or butter!"

"You ate the butterfly?!" Sora exclaimed.

Adora started laughing, "What? No, you silly willy, twilly, lilly person, you. The window. Like when you spill syrup on the floor and even though you clean it up, you lick the floor and it still tastes like syrup."

Glimmer's eye was twitching, "You were licking the floor?!"

That only incited more laughter from Adora, "Man, you guys are soooooooo crazy! It was just a metaphor. I mean spilling syrup, that's so weird!"

Sora blinked, "Wait, that sounds more like a simile."

Bow shook his head, "No dude, when you use the word 'like,' it becomes a metaphor. If you use the word 'as' for example, then it's a simile."

"Oh."

Glimmer rubbed her temples, "Geez, the day barely started and already I don't know how much more of this I can take."

Adora's attention was soon drawn to the food laid out on the dining table, "Oh! Oh! Look! The food is sooooo small and cute!" She literally leapt from Sora and landed on the table, almost looking like a cat, and then started to make a mess from playing with the animal shaped food.

"No! That's a bad Adora! We don't play with our food like that!" Sora grabbed her by her midsection and pulled her off the table where she struggled and flailed about.

"No, stop! I want to play with the tiny animals!"

Bow rushed to Glimmer's side as Sora dealt with the looney girl. "Glimmer! Adora is still crazy!"

"Yeah, how about you put that on a memo and title it 'Something everyone already knows!'"

Bow facepalmed, "I know, you know! But what I'm trying to get at is what are we gonna do?! She's our friend and our best chance at stopping the Horde. We gotta snap her out of this!"

"I don't know what to do!" she whined as she sat down and covered her face. "I'm terrified of mom's reaction when she finds out about this. Aside from losing our friend, the revival of the Princess Alliance was completely hinged on She-Ra. Without her, it's gonna fall apart before it even really begins. When that happens, the Horde is gonna be that much closer to winning and destroying everything!"

"Glimmer, calm down" Bow put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "First of all, we're gonna get Adora taken care of. Between Sora's space powers and your mom's super wisdom, Adora is gonna be back to normal."

"You...you think so?"

"I know so. Second, it isn't all She-Ra that's helped start the Princess Alliance. Like back in Plumeria, it was Adora, not She-Ra's note that helped inspire Princess Perfuma and her people to come help us. She saw it was a normal, helpless person without any powers trying to charge in and stop the Horde. It's that kind of inspiration that's ultimately going to win the people over, not a legend that most people aren't aware has just returned." Bow gave her a confident thumbs up, "I'm telling you, this war isn't close to over yet, and we are not gonna be on the losing side either!"

Glimmer smiled as she wiped her eyes, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah! I mean, who needs She-Ra to inspire people if you can spit out a speech like that whenever we need it?"

Bow rubbed the back of his head, "You thought it was good? I was thinking the entire time it was coming out so cheesy."

"Adora NOOOO!" They both whipped their heads around as they just caught Sora and Adora falling over and flipping the entire dining room table. Sora quickly pulled himself and the loopy girl up, both a complete mess as food and drinks dripped off from every part of them.

Sora wiped egg yolk from his eyes and looked at the girl licking at her hands and sleeves. He then bonked her on the head three times, "Bad, bad, bad Adora! We don't do that!"

She immediately stopped and looked up at him with big, watery, blue eyes, her hands going to where his fist made contact with before she started wailing. "But the pudding looked so wiggly and mushy! I just wanted to play with it!" She turned around and started running for the door.

Sora facepalmed at this, "You've got to be-I hardly touched you, you big baby! Adora, come baaaaaaack!" He ran after her and disappeared into the hallway.

Glimmer let out a sigh, "Sooooo dodged a bullet by handing her off to him."

"I'll go let the staff know about the mess. I'll go check on Entrapta, too. She's still in her lab trying to fix what she can."

"And I'll go find and help get Adora cleaned up. Then we can get going. Hopefully mom can get this whole mess fixed."

* * *

Glimmer, Bow and a wagon toting Entrapta walked down the road back to Bright Moon with light conversation accompanying them, mostly between the archer and the inventor. Glimmer for the most part tried to keep an eye on her two other friends as they lagged behind somewhat.

When they all left the castle, Princess Entrapta had thrown together a comfortable harness and leash for Adora to wear. Getting it on was easy with how clingy she was, but the moment they were on the road, she tried to make a break for it, trying to see and touch everything she could with her tongue. They were quick to give the leash to Sora, making him the responsible guardian for the day. He was easily the only one with the strength and energy to keep up with the now literal woman child/formerly trained Horde Force Captain.

Fortunately, she eventually tuckered herself out and Sora was carrying her piggyback style. He looked a little worse for wear from everything that transpired in the past twenty-four hours.

Glimmer decided to let Bow and Entrapta chat as she slowed down to walk alongside Sora and a sleeping Adora. "So, Sora, how are you holding up?"

He let out a yawn, "Eh, you know, nothing a nap wouldn't fix. This did make me wonder if this is what it's like to have a little brother or sister? Mind you my kid sibling wouldn't have special forces training or be practically a grown adult, but still..."

Glimmer giggled at that, "Yeah, I can imagine kids being a handful, but I always wanted a sibling, older or younger. Did you ever want a brother or sister?"

"Hmmm, not really. I've had Riku as a best friend for as long as I can remember, so I was rarely ever alone. Then when I met Kairi, the company I always had around only just doubled. Growing up in a big castle though, being a Princess and all, I'm sure you've had plenty of lonely moments."

"Yeah...I was almost twelve when I first became friends with Bow. It kind of sucked until then."

"Yeah, you guys seem pretty close. Awesome to have a best friend isn't? Can't imagine not ever having mine...Sooooo, about you and Bow~"

Like a flip of a switch, the entirety that was Glimmer began to glow with pink energy. "Wha, me and who, I mean, errr, who and Bow, uh, heh! What are we talking about?!"

"Oh come now" Sora said in a high voice before reaching over and pinched at Glimmer's cheek, "I've seen how you look at him."

"What? Looking at him like anyone would look at their best friend?" she whispered angrily while letting Bow and Entrapta get further ahead.

"Come on, I've seen you throwing sideway glances at Bow whenever something 'romantic' ever came up."

"Sh-sh-sh-shhhh" She grabbed his shoulder as she hushed him, "Not so loud, you jerk." She looked further up, it seemed that the other two were too far to hear them. "I do not have a crush on Bow, so you might as well give up on that idea from now."

Sora looked a little surprised, "Wait, crush? Who said anything about that?"

Glimmer's pink glow returned, "Wha? But-but-but you said, you were saying-"

Sora bumped her with his hip, "Relax, Glim, I'm messing with you. About me pretending to imply something else, not the 'you have a crush' part."

Glimmer covered her face with her hands and moaned. Both she and Sora couldn't tell if she was more embarrassed or enraged.

There was a small pause as they came up with blanks on what to talk about. They were quiet for about a minute before Sora yelped in pain and surprise, "Gah! She bit my neck again!"

"What?!" She looked over, and indeed, Adora's mouth was clamped shut on the side of his neck. It looked like she was trying to chew on him.

"Please tell me you've got some snacks on you? I already used up all the ones I brought with me on her last time she did this, but she still keeps biting!"

Glimmer quickly searched her pockets before pulling out a wrapped cupcake in the shape of a kitty cat. "Still got one from breakfast!"

"Okay, pull her off of me!"

She tried to pull at Adora's head, but she bit down harder before tightening her grip. Glimmer had the idea of waving the sugary treat under her nose for her to get a whiff. It worked. Her teeth let go before she sniffed after the sweet.

"Careful, I almost lost a finger earlier."

Glimmer blinked before pulling back. Just in time, too, because Adora's teeth snapped close in the empty space where her fingers just were. She looked determined and watched carefully as Adora's mouth opened again. Right away she plopped the treat in successfully.

"Yes! I did it! Whoo!" Glimmer cheered. The good feeling didn't last long before she suddenly found mush spit up on her face.

"Ew, gross. She hadn't done that to me yet" Sora commented, not much sympathy in his voice.

Glimmer felt her eyes twitch uncontrollably as she felt the last bit of her patience die out. "THAT IS IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"

Bow and Entrapta turned around at her shouting and ran back to them. "Glimmer, what's going on?!"

"'What's going on?!' It's her!" She pointed at Adora, who was snuggling back up on Sora. "This whole thing in driving me CRAZY!"

"Uh, yeah, how do you think I feel?" Sora added.

"And I still don't understand how you haven't snapped?! But you know what we haven't tried yet?! Trying to knock some literal sense into her!" Glimmer let her fist glow with magic as she approached Adora.

"Whoa, whoa there, Princess Glimmer!" Entrapta rushed in front of her and held her back. "Causing physical trauma to the noggin to repair an instability problem like this, while tempting, is _extremely_ inadvisable. This isn't some play where someone smacks someone else on the head with a frying pan and poof, back to normal! You could make her condition worse."

"Plus she's sleeping. Not very cool."

"Don't care! Gonna do it!" Glimmer blinked from existence before reappearing behind Sora. He tried to move Adora out of the way, but he was caught too off guard by the suddenness of the whole ordeal. Glimmer landed her punch on the side of her head, knocking the three of them on the ground.

Adora's eyes snapped open before flashing different colors while her face began to spasm. She blinked and clutched her head. "OW! Glimmer, the heck was that for?!"

Everyone gaped at her. "Wait, Adora, are you back to normal?"

Entrapta's hair scratched at her chin, "Huh, I'll be darned."

Adora kept rubbing at her head, "Ow. Normal? What's that supposed to mean?"

Bow's head popped in. "Wait, you don't remember?"

She looked at him oddly, "Remember what?...Wait, what?" She suddenly became aware of her surroundings.

"Adora, what's the last thing you remember?" Sora asked her next.

"Umm…" She looked down as she tried to think, she then noticed the harness around her chest. She followed it to Sora's hand. "Why the hell do you have me on a leash like some sort of pet?!"

Everyone looked to each other before sounding "Uhhhhh" in perfect unison. They weren't sure if that the truth was a good idea for Adora's sake.

"Well, we are only an hour away from my castle, and like I said, it records everything that happens inside." She leaned in before muttering loudly, "It will be hilarioooous~"

Adora did not look amused. "Okay, what happened?"

Sora and Bow whistled nonchalantly while Glimmer looked even more uncomfortable. "Soooo, about that last thing you remember~"

She took a deep breath before exhaling, she did not like where this was going. "Okay, let's see...I remember that we were...fighting a bunch of evil robots...WAIT! We were fighting a bunch of evil robots! What the heck happened?!"

Everyone looked to each other again, feeling at their most uncomfortableness. "Uhhhhhhh."

"Somebody here has some explaining to do!"

"Oh boy."

Sora stepped up and addressed everyone. "Okay guys, let's see a show of hands. Who here thinks it's a good idea to go back and show Adora the recordings?"

Adora of course raised her hand, everyone else were hesitant.

"Okay, first of all, sorry Adora, your vote doesn't count." She crossed her arms and pouted. "So who thinks it's a good idea to just keep going and pretend none of this ever happened?"

Once more, no one raised their hand while looking hesitant and bothered.

Sora let out an exasperated sigh, "Okay, how about this: Who thinks, while not a good idea, but just out of morbid curiosity of Adora's reaction, we should go back and watch those recordings?"

At that, everyone raised their hands. Adora gulped nervously. What the heck happened that everyone was acting the way they were? Tip toeing at first to try to avoid stepping on a mine, now this?

It would be three hours later when they would once again leaving Entrapta's castle, but with a mortified Adora covering her face with her hands while keeping a decent distance from everyone.

"Alrighty, show of hands again. Who else regretted that?" Sora asked, already raising his hand.

At that, everyone's hands shot up and everyone sounded off "Me."

After that, no one said a thing till they reached Bright Moon in the late afternoon.

As soon as they passed the gates, they began to split up. Adora went straight to her room and didn't come out for the rest of the day, and Glimmer, of course, had to report to her mother and without a doubt received another scolding. That left Sora and Bow with an excited Entrapta, who was more than overly ready to see the remains of the Gummi Ship. Sora was still a little unsure of the pig-tailed Princess, he wasn't going to forget about how he was nearly strangled to death by her, even if it was an accident. Bow on the other hand was nearly as excited as the Princess.

Entrapta hopped around Sora, almost looking like a rabbit with her pigtails up in the air. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I am so excited! Aren't you guys excited?! Of course Sora wouldn't be excited, this is your ship after all!" She climbed the front of his shirt and grabbed his face, a thin trail of saliva was running down from her lips. "You get to see it and ride it all the time through space, the final frontier! Did I mention that I was excited?! Gosh I am so EXCITED!"

Bow brought his arms and shoulders in, "Oh man, this is gonna be so cool! Here I am, about to work on an actual spaceship with one of the best minds in our time!"

The two seemed to be excited, Sora dryly noted to himself, he blinked in surprise as the Princess's pigtail shot out to fish a video recorder out of her wagon and shoved it into his hands. "Here! I NEED to document everything and anything that's gonna happen! I mean, COME ON! A real-life alien spaceship! Quick question, am I drooling? I think I'm drooling"

"A little, yeah." Sora sighed, "So, that's probably a no on waiting till tomorrow morning to get to work, huh?"

Bow nodded, "I know! I just can't wait either!"

A/N: Another chapter out! This was originally part of the last chapter, but felt it was enough to be its own, if a tad shorter in comparison. We'll be getting back on track in the next chapter, so hang on tight. As always, leave a review or PM to let me know what you guys think!

(Edited and cleaned up, thanks to Cyclon One)


	8. Chapter 8

An exhausted Sora and Bow let out a yawn as they struggled to watch Princess Entrapta work. The day and night had already gone by with the sun rising on a new day, and not once did they get a chance to stop. The small Princess was still riding high on her excitement, putting Sora's usual endless energy to utter shame. Bow, who started out nearly as excited she, had puttered out and was almost dead to the world.

Sora has finally had enough of this. "That's it! We've been at this for...over 17 hours straight?! Really?! Alright, we ARE taking a break now!"

Bow raised his drooping eyes up and mumbled, "Finally someone said something."

"We need to take a rest from this, Entrapta."

It looked like she barely paid them any mind. "Uh-huh, okay, that's fine. Come back whenever. Aside from holding my things, you guys weren't that useful anyway." In the beginning, she had placed too much faith into Sora's knowledge of the Gummi Ship and its inner workings. She was majorly disappointed in the end results of that path.

"For the last time, I'm sorry! I said from the very start that I didn't know how to fix the thing, that's why we needed your help."

"You said that you knew how to fly this thing, you can hardly work the controls during simulated testing!"

"And I said that before I started my new adventure, they updated the controls and changed things up. That's how we crashed, we didn't get a chance to figure out the new controls as we were trying to escape a wormhole! Everything totally got changed up from before!"

Bow closed his eyes and covered his ears, "Can we please not do this again?! It was hard to deal with it when I was fresh and ready, now I'm ready to drop!"

"Whatever, just go take your naps, I'll still be here working." She turned around and got back to work.

Sora pointed his finger at her, "Oh no! You need to stop and take a break more than anyone else! I mean, how are you not tired yet?!"

"How can I be tired with all this excitement and ground breaking discoveries all over the place?!" Entrapta threw her arms in the air.

"You hardly touched any of the food and drinks they brought us!" Bow added.

"They hardly suited my refined pallet!"

"They were made by Bright Moon's best royal chefs!"

"But did you see how large and ordinary they were?! They weren't even animal shaped or miniature!"

Sora joined back into the fray. "And another thing, Bow and I took, like, four bathroom breaks each. We've never seen you leave the ship yet, don't you have to go?!"

She put her hands at her hip, "I'll have you know that I have taken three bathroom breaks. I just didn't have to leave like you guys had to!"

The two looked a little disturbed by that. "Wait, are you saying that somewhere in this cramped space is your…" Bow started to ask.

"My private business, yes! Man up and get over it!"

"So that's what that smell was...AND THERE'S NO SINK IN HERE! I think I'm gonna barf!" Bow ran out of the ship.

Sora facepalmed at that before pulling at his face. "Okay, that settles it! We are all going to take a big step away from all this chaos, observe at how crazy some of this is, and then get some sleep!"

"Yes, like I said, good luck with that. I'll still be here working."

He crossed his arms, "Nope, that means you too! Whether you want to or not!"

The Princess rolled her eyes at that, "Oh, and what is that supposed to mean? You're gonna force me to…" She stared at Sora for three full seconds, "Uh-oh."

From behind the bushes, Bow was wiping his mouth as he heard the struggle. The nearby guards heard the screaming and yelling as well. They all got a little closer to the ship.

"NO!"

"STOP!"

"CEASE AND DESIST!"

"MORE WORDS!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"THERE IS TOO MUCH WORK TO BE DONE!"

"GAHHH-MMMHHMMPHMMmmhphm!"

The shouting finally came to a stop before Sora emerged with the Princess tied up with her own hair, gagged and all. Her attempts at flailing to escape was useless as she tried to scream.

He hoisted her over one shoulder before using his free hand to pump, "Did it! I won! I'm the greatest around!"

"Great, what do we do with her now?" Bow asked.

"We make her take a break, duh" he answered as though it was so obvious.

Another muffled scream was let out by Entrapta, "I don't think she's gonna be able to relax at all and enjoy." Bow let out a sigh, "I don't know man, maybe we should her go and get back to work."

He looked incredulously at him, "She was pooping inside the ship!"

The nearby guards weren't too sure how to react to a Princess technically being captured. Even more so to hear that she was doing something so disgusting and unrefined. One of them spoke up, "Should...we notify the Queen or Princess Glimmer of this?" she asked.

Bow let out a yawn, "That's it. I'm giving up. I'm going to bed now."

Entrapta managed to get her balled up hair out of her mouth, "VIVA LA REVOLUTION!"

"YOU ARE GOING TO GET A PROPER MEAL AND NAP! BUT FIRST YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME WHERE YOU HID YOUR DIRTY BUSINESS!"

"NEVEEEER!"

The two guards looked to each other, "They're insane!"

* * *

"BOW!"

The young archer looked up as he trudged his feet through the hallways. He hardly reacted when Glimmer appeared by his side. "Hey Glimmer" he got out before he yawned.

"Bow, where were you yesterday? You disappeared on me, that's my thing!" she joked, but was quick to notice the circles starting to appear around his eyes. "Whoa, are you okay, what happened?"

Bow yawned again, "I was with Princess Entrapta and Sora ever since we got back. I just now escaped and I desperately need to get to my bed." He yawned again. "What about you? How did things go over with your mom?"

Glimmer blinked twice in surprise, "Wow, that was almost a whole twenty four hours ago, geez. So, um, things went surprisingly better than expected. Mom got mad, of course, but get this...I'm not grounded!"

Bow's right eyebrow shot up, "Huh? You got off the hook?!"

"I know, I think mom's getting more and more impressed with us...though I did leave out the bit where She-Ra went berserk and all that, heh heh." He crossed his arms and gave the smaller Princess the look. "What?! It would only freak mom out over nothing. The disc is destroyed so there is no chance that Adora would go crazy again. Honestly, telling her would have caused more problems than anything else!"

"Ah-huh, so she received your mission report and when the time came to tell her everyone's statues, what happened when she got to Adora?"

"Nothing! I told her an embarrassing incident happened and Adora wanted to be left alone for a little bit."

Bow let out one more yawn. "Yup, I've reached my limit for today. FYI, Sora captured Entrapta and is trying to put her down for a nap. Just a heads up if things get crazy, well, crazier."

A thought came up, "Oh, wait! One more thing Bow, tomorrow we're having another meeting in the war room. Noon as always."

"Rodger" Bow yawned.

Glimmer stood alone in the hallway for a moment in thought, She was on her way to check in on Adora, but what Bow mentioned made her a little concerned. "I'd better check in on Sora and Entrapta" she sighed.

A quick blink to the courtyard later, she made her way to the two guards huddled together. "Okay, where are they?" she asked, knowing they knew who she was referring to.

The two guards stood up straight and saluted, "Right behind us Princess, but you just missed Young Master Bow. He just-"

"Yeah, yeah, he filled me in already." She looked around them and saw a collapsed Sora and Princess Entrapta. A struggle was clearly evident as the smaller girl was held tightly by her hairy bounds and in Sora's arms, but they both looked to be asleep from the accumulated exhaustion. It was a little disturbing to see them both drooling the way they were though. "What the heck happened?"

"Princess Entrapta was putting up much resistance after Master Sora insisted on her taking a much needed break. And it is just how it looks like, they both collapsed and fell asleep in the middle of their struggle."

Glimmer pinched the bridge of her nose, "Can we get someone to take them to their room to sleep in? Please?"

"Yes Princess, I'll also find someone to run, umm, clean up, inside of the ship as well."

She raised an eyebrow, "Cleanup?"

The guard bowed to her, "Please, Princess, I think it would be best for all parties to keep the event of what's transpired die in secrecy."

"Um, yikes? Okay, you guys do what you think is best then. I think I have to update mooo-er, the Queen."

* * *

Adora jumped when she heard a loud knock on her door, wishing to be left alone still, she ignored it in hopes to convey her request. The door knocked again. Sighing, she got up and answered the door and was surprised to see a guard.

"Um, yes?"

"Beg the intrusion, but we were told that you had a preference to have him as your, er, bunkmate." She stepped aside to reveal another guard carrying a sleeping Sora. "Is that his station there?" She gestured to the foldout set up near Adora's bed.

"Um, yeah. Wait, what? What happened?"

"Princess Entrapta with Young Master Sora and Bow worked themselves to exhaustion while repairing the ship."

"Wait, didn't they start that yesterday? They only now just stopped?" Adora thought aloud.

"That is indeed the case. May we?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." She watched the two dispose Sora on his foldout bunk before excusing themselves from the room. "Was wondering where you were...so um, are you awake?" Adora poked him a few times on the cheek.

A snort was his only response.

"Okay then." She sat down on her bed while looking at the boy. A bottled up feeling that's been suffocating her lately quickly resurfaced on her mind. A terrible feeling and thought that wouldn't leave her be, something she's been too afraid to admit to anyone yet, but she has to say it to someone. This might be the perfect opportunity to speak out safely.

"So, Sora, what happened after the battle of Dryl, pretty embarrassing, right? I mean, whoa, I've only ever heard of people describing drunks before, but seeing one for the first time, watching me no less, weeeird. Can't remember even a shred of it, heh, heh. Soooo...really scary, how I lost all control of myself and tried to, you know, kill you, Glimmer and Entrapta. Actually, really, really terrifying...yeah." She looked at Sora, he was still sleeping away. Adora sighed.

"I mean, really, one moment I was jumping on top of a crazy machine to put a stop to that painful sound, the next moment it's been a whole day later and you guys show me a recording of me on a killer rampage! I mean, did you see me?! The look on my face!" She rubbed her face before taking another deep breathe. "I looked just like the propaganda they forced fed me back in the Horde. 'Mad, power-crazy Princess that will kill you, everyone and everything without a second thought. Kill them before they can kill you with their out of control magic powers!' I literally became the monster I grew up fearing. Worse yet, I was trying to kill my best friends. I know it was because of that First One's Disk, but what if it happens again?! What if there are other First One's Tech just laying around that can make me go crazy again?! Worse yet, if the Horde finds out and they get their hands on it?! Sora, what if you're not there in time to stop me from...killing someone?" Adora finally expressed the fears that was eating away at her.

"I don't know what to think or do. I'm She-Ra. I'm supposed to be the one person that's supposed to protect everyone, not be the one that ends up killing everyone. I'm...terrified of myself right now!" She covered her face, she could feel out tears welling up in her eyes. She did her best to reel it in. "I wish someone could give me the answers I need for this. I don't want to lose who and what I am, and turn into a mindless monster. Who am I even supposed to even go to for advice on any of this?!"

*Snoooooooooore*

Adora couldn't help but crack a small smile in amusement. Saying it out loud finally made her feel a little bit better, though oddly, a little worse at the same time. "Good talk, I guess." She let out another sigh as she laid back and tried to close her eyes again.

* * *

*GROWL* Sora cracked an eye open, "Uhh, hungry. Need. Food." He tried to roll himself off his stomach, but ended up falling flat on the ground. "Ouch." Picking himself back up, Sora dusted himself off as he looked around the room. He was back in the room he and Adora shared. "Huh, when did I get back here? What was I doing again?"

The door opened and Adora walked in with a plate of food. "Oh, you're finally up? I was just bringing back some dinner in case you woke up hungry."

Sora's eyes widened, "Oh boy! You're timing couldn't be any more perfect!" He ran up and took the plate from her hands. It was mostly loaded with steamed vegetables, but there were some slices of meat. Good enough for him! Taking it to a small table, he started to dig in. He managed to ask before his mouth was too full, "So what happened? Totally can't remember what I was even doing!"

"You, Bow and Entrapta kind of worked yourselves into the ground. Glimmer told me Bow barely made it to his room, and that you and Entrapta both passed out in the courtyard."

Sora smiled as he remembered, "Oh yeah, crazy!" He paused for a moment as he really remembered, "Oh yeah, crazy" he grimaced.

"Heh, what's with that face?"

"Entrapta is, um, wow. I don't even know if I want to say it out loud?"

Adora came over and nudged him, "Oh come on, she can't be that bad? She's so small, and she doesn't have an army of robots to go crazy on us. What could she have possibly done?"

Sora rolled his eyes, "Ugh, how long ago did you eat?"

"Finished finished not even ten minutes ago. I, um, finally got out of my room. Thought I should get it over with and see everybody."

"You were hiding in your room?" Sora took a large bite of food, "Why?"

Adora's cheek blushed, "Cause I was super embarrassed with how I was acting after the fight at Entrapta's Castle...among other things" she mumbled in the end.

Sora waved it off, "Who cares, I've seen loopier. Like this one time, I hit my head so hard, I'm still loopy to this day! How else do you explain me?"

That managed to rile a laugh out of her, "Shut up, yeah right." She sat across from Sora, "I hope you're ready for tomorrow, I have no idea how you're gonna sleep again so soon. There's another meeting tomorrow, so we're probably gonna get assigned a mission."

Sora stretched into a yawn. "It's kay. Sleeping has NEVER been a problem for me." He looked at his empty plate, tempted to lick it clean. "If I didn't get hungry, I'd probably sleep till noon tomorrow."

Adora crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Wow, you're actually a bit of a lazy bum, aren't you?"

He gave into temptation and licked to plate clean, "Yup, totally!" Sora stood up, "I'm gonna run to the kitchen and see what else I can eat. Did you want anything?"

"No, I think I'm gonna wash up real quick and then go to sleep."

"Sure, I'll knock to make sure your decent before I come back inside. You'll be awake still, right?" Seeing Adora nod, he turned to the door, but paused. "Hmmm?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, but I don't know why?" Sora turned back around before setting the plate down. He walked up to Adora before giving her a soft hug.

She blushed profusely, "Uhh, what?! What are you doing?!"

"I'm not too sure why, but I have this little voice in my head telling me that you needed a hug and let you know not to worry. That everything will be alright."

Adora's face turned crimson, "Uhhhhhhhh"

Sore let go before giving her a gentle pat on the back and picked up his plate. "Welp, I'll be back when I'm done eating...whenever that will be?!" he joked. He turned and walked out the door without another word spoken between the two.

Adora was already in her bed when she heard a knock on the door. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep as she heard Sora let himself in before pausing, then slowly trying to tip toe to his bunk. She wasn't sure how to respond to Sora's actions earlier, it'd be better to brush it off for now and ignore it. She wasn't ready to talk to anyone about her concerns and worries, not yet.

*Snooooooore*

'Wow, he's asleep already?! He wasn't kidding!'

* * *

The stroke of noon had arrived the next day and everyone was assembled for another meeting of the Generals. As always, the Queen of Brightmoon began, "Council, we are in need of strengthening our defenses against the Horde. Now that Princess Entrapta has joined our cause, we have a stronger technological presence, but we cannot let ourselves be too dependent on that alone. Does anyone have anything to bring forward?"

Glimmer's hand shot up like an eager schoolgirl wanting to prove herself in the classroom. "Me! Me, me, me me!"

Queen Angella let out a sigh, "Anyone else besides Glimmer?" No one else raised their hand still. Glimmer was still holding her hand up, soon using her other hand to help support it. The Queen began to rub the bridge of her nose. "No suggestions from anyone?" Sora picked his hand up. "Yes, Sora?"

"Um, I think Glimmer would like to share?"

Letting out one more sigh, she answered "Yes Glimmer?"

"Mom!- Er, uh, Your Majesty. I would like to request that my team and I continue to recruit for the Princess Alliance. We'd be not only bolstering our army's numbers, but we'll be assembling a multipurpose team of powerful individuals loyal to the cause."

"Glimmer, we've been over this. The last Princess Alliance failed and everyone chose to focus on safeguarding only their lands. You reported to me how difficult it was to recruit Princess Perfuma, and it seems it was completely dependent on Princess Entrapta's fascination with Sora and his ship for her to join at all. Speaking of whom, why is she not present for her first council meeting?"

Bow raised his hand, "Um, actually, there was a bit of an issue we had yesterday. She seems to have worked herself past her breaking point and is still asleep from exhaustion while working on Sora's ship."

"Yes, yes, Glimmer spoke to me yesterday. I would have thought she'd be back on her feet by now."

"Sorry, Your Majesty. She's still out of it. She worked really hard. Got really out of hand, actually" Bow scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.

The Queen nodded in understanding, knowing Entrapta's character. "Any chance that a device is in the works to help detect the missing pieces of the ship?"

"I don't think so, not yet."

"Mom please! Er, Your Majesty, sorry." Glimmer corrected herself again, "We have factor's working for our advantage: She-Ra and Sora. I'm not ready to give up on it yet, I really do think it's a good and viable plan. All I'm proposing is a diplomatic mission."

Queen Angella relented, "Very well, what did you have in mind?"

The Princess activated the table's holoprojector, "Anyone that tries to approach Brightmoon by sea needs to pass through the Salineas Sea Gate. According to the most recent news I've heard, it's now controlled by Princess Mermista with her parents suddenly retiring. If we can recruit her to our side, not only would we be effectively safeguarding ourselves from naval attacks, but the sea would be to our advantage." Glimmer gave her mother a serious look, "We need this Alliance, mom."

Sora made a gesture, showing that his mind was blown. "Wow, that plan is amazing! When did you think of all that? Can we do it?" He looked to the Queen.

She momentarily looked impressed as well, but she was quick to look crestfallen. "The journey there has been known to be very treacherous. I'm not too sure about this."

"Don't worry mom!" Glimmer stood up and gestured to Adora and Sora, "With She-Ra and the Keyblade on our side, we can conquer anything!"

Sora leaned into Spinnerella's ear and whispered something that made her giggle. She turned to her fellow Princess and partner, Nettossa, and passed on the message, getting the same reaction.

Adora leaned in a chimed in for the first time in a modest voice, "And, uh, we're gonna need a boat."

Glimmer corrected herself, "With these two, and a boat, we can conquer anything!"

"And an experienced sea captain" Bow inserted as well.

Glimmer let out an exasperated sigh, "With these two, a boat, _and_ an experienced sea captain, _we can conquer anything_!" She put on the most forced smile any of them had ever seen, they were a little worried her cheeks would rip out. " _Anything else_?"

Sora lifted a finger up, "To be honest, most would think that the boat and the captain would come hand in hand, right?" Glimmer facepalmed.

Queen Angella couldn't help but smile at the four's antics, "Very well, your mission has been granted."

Glimmer jumped up and cheered before teleporting on to her mother's lap for a moment to give her a quick peck on the cheek before returning to her seat.

"I mean it Glimmer, no violence and no collateral damage" she spoke in a stern voice.

Said Princess pulled Sora out of his seat before shoving him towards Adora and Bow. "Thanks mom, you won't regret it!"

Sora looked panicked before calling out to the room, "That's three!" He managed before Glimmer teleported them all away.

Queen Angella let out another tired sigh before looking to the two remaining Princesses. "I'm curious, what did Sora whisper to you two?"

Spinnerella covered her mouth and barely hid a giggle as Nettossa answered. "He counted two times where Princess Glimmer forgot to not call you 'mom.' Just now he counted a third time."

Her Majesty rolled her eyes and smiled.

* * *

After traveling for a few long hours, the four finally made it to the port town of Seaworthy. Safe to say that the boys were more than a little excited.

"Oh man, this is so cool! This place is everything I imagined it to be! It's like everyone here is an actual swashbuckling pirate!" Bow looked at everyone with sparkling eyes.

Glimmer put a hand on his shoulder, "Bow, focus-" she began, but was immediately pushed aside by Sora.

"What do you mean _like_ a pirate? You got one traveling with you this entire time!"

Bow's hands went straight to his face, "No. Way. You were a pirate?!"

Sora puffed his chest out, "That's right! Once crewed for the legendary pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow! Together we sailed the high seas, looking for booty and breaking ancient pirate curses."

Bow drooled a little, "So cool" he squeaked.

Glimmer reached up and pulled down on both of their ears. "Hey guys, remember: we're here to hire a sea captain!"

"No pirates?" they both moaned.

"No pirates."

"Dude, you never mentioned you were part of a pirate crew before" Bow whispered to him.

"There is a lot I haven't gotten to telling you guys yet!"

Adora paid only a little attention to them as she scouted the room for any possible candidates. "I don't know, this place looks like a bust. None of these people look qualified to sail a ship."

Sora popped into her vision, "Do I look qualified?"

She scratched her cheek, "Not really, no."

"Then we better start asking around instead of looking, cause I totally know how to sail!"

"You know how to sail, too?!" Bow started to get excited again.

"Yeah...I mean, sort of. I've seen Jack do it all the time and helped with the process. I think I've got it figured out." Bow and Adora's head dropped at.

Glimmer moved forward to speak with the tough looking barkeeper. "Excuse me, sir?" Sora slid by her and quickly whispered in her ear, "Ma'am! So sorry!" she corrected herself. The burly barkeeper with a strap across her chest and shoulder looked at her with mild annoyance, but didn't say anything. Glimmer blushed as she put on her best smile, "We're looking looking for a captain that could take us to Salineas."

She gestured to the corner where a small crowd was gathered. It appeared an arm wrestling challenge was underway between a green lizard man and a handsome, if roguish, man that looked every part of a sea captain. The mustached man was swift to take his victory.

"Ah-ha! Once more I've won again! My new friend here will be happy to get drinks for everyone! On his tab of course."

The crowd soon dispersed with his victory. They all took that as their cue to go see him. Glimmer took the lead. "Hi, we were told you were a sea captain?"

"Ah, yes, perhaps you have heard of me and my reputation? I am the one and only Captain Sea Hawk! A pleasure to meet you all" he greeted boastfully.

Bow let out a long gasp, "Your name is actually Sea Hawk? That's the coolest name I've ever heard!"

"I think Jack Sparrow sounds cooler" Sora mumbled to himself.

Glimmer not so subtly smacked them both in the arm before turning and posed a professional look. "Captain Sea Hawk, we are interviewing potential sea captains to take us to Salineas. Would you like to apply for the position?"

The captain began to laugh, "Didn't you hear me before? I am the one and only _Captain_ Sea Hawk! I, alone, am offer only."

Adora butted her way forward, "Okay, just because 'Sea' is in your name doesn't give us any insight into your actual qualifications! Want to give us a little more to work with?"

"Qualifications?" he scoffed, "I once ran the fifty-klick Galebreath Gauntlet in less than twenty klicks! I maneuvered the Serpentine with nary a chip in the paint of my bow! Even my shanties are considered so desirable that sirens fling themselves into the sea at the sound of them! And I only say this because I've noticed the look your archer is giving, and yes, my mustache is naturally shiny."

Bow looked like he was about to drop to his knees and worship the man as his new idol. "He's so cool! AND HIS MUSTACHE IS SHINY! You're hired!"

Glimmer elbowed him in his side. She turned to Sora, "Sora, you've sailed under highly acclaimed sailors and pirates. What do you think?"

He shrugged, "These are very different waters from what I've been near. Aside from the shanties and the shiny facial hair, _which_ I don't find that impressive, I can't really judge."

Sea Hawk looked a little hurt at that last comment as he gently patted and combed his mustache. He shook it off, "I think you all are getting a little ahead of yourselves. What makes you think you can afford me? Even more so with my recent expenses."

The Princess waved it off, "I assure you, money is no object."

There was a suspicious glint in the captain's eyes as he pulled out a slip of paper and slid it over. "My fee."

Sora, Adora and Bow all peer over her shoulder as she turned the paper over and they all gasped. "Is that your phone number, or are there really that many digits to you price?!" Sora asked aloud.

Glimmer looked nervous as she answered "Money might be an object."

Sora threw his hands behind his head, "Maybe we should try to find someone else. All we really need is a boat and a map. It can't be that hard to get there?"

Captain Sea Hawk let out another laugh, "Good luck finding someone willing to do that. The way to Salineas is treacherous. I would know, for I brave it all the time to see my close and personal friend, one time lover even, Princess Mermista."

"Wait, you really know her?" Glimmer was pulled back in.

"Do I? Can you imagine anyone else besides myself that can charm a Princess so easily?"

Bow held his cheeks to keep his jaw from falling, "So cool."

That's when Adora mosied down over to the table and challenged him, "Oh, okay, I see how it is. Think you're all that, do ya? How about this: One round of arm wrestling, winner takes all. You win, we leave you alone. We win, you take us to Salineas...also at no cost."

Sora face palmed himself, "That's a terrible deal, he's never going to go for that."

Sea Hawk looked at him, "Really, he's right, that is a terrible deal. How about this...you beat me, and you pay what you think is reasonably priced. I _do_ have some expenses I need to cover after all. You also have to do me a favor once we get to Salineas, I was on my way their anyway."

"A favor?" Glimmer began to ask.

"Nothing big, I assure you of that. Just something that my charming personality and skills can't do alone is all."

The four looked at each other and nodded before huddling together. Glimmer began, "So yeah we're gonna do it. The only question is who do we send to arm wrestle?"

Bow answered, "Sora, obviously, he's way stronger than Adora when she isn't She-Ra."

Said Adora let out a grunt, "Whatever, fine."

"Actually" Sora inserted, "I want to send Adora in. She's still pretty strong, and I really want to see the look on his arrogant face when he loses _to a girl_."

Adora raised an eyebrow, "What does me being a girl have to do with anything?"

"Because he seems the type that his ego would get hurt even more so because of it."

Adora and Glimmer smiled mischievously in agreement, Bow tried to defend the sea captain. "Aw c'mon, sure he's a little egotistical and arrogant, but that's because he's so cool."

"Yeah, there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way. He's just nothing like Captain Jack Sparrow. Like I want to compare him when talking to Sea Hawk, but it just leads to disappointment."

Glimmer nodded at him, "I agree with Sora, I want to see the look on his face after Adora destroys him!"

"Oh yeah, I'll put him in his place alright." They broke apart and approached the captain, "Sea Hawk, you got yourself a deal. One round, you and me!"

"Aha! Prepare yourself to join the club of those who thought they could defeat the one and only Captain Sea Hawk!"

* * *

"Well, here she is, welcome aboard to the Dragon's Daughter IV!" Sea Hawk introduced his ship with his very bruised hand.

Sora paused as he thought before counting four fingers, "Wait, Dragon's Daughter IV?"

Adora continued the thought, "So what happened to Dragon's Daughters one through three?"

The sea captain looked a little crestfallen, "They sadly went down in flames, most recently costing me two of the best crew members I've ever had the pleasure to work with."

Glimmer gasped as she covered her mouth, "Oh no! What happened? Was it the Horde?!"

Sea Hawk puffed his chest out, "Well, I set the ship on fire, and my crew quit on me because of it. I mean, who else is talented enough to sink _my_ ship except for...well, me?" Everyone's jaw dropped at the statement. "Remember the favor I asked of you? Well, those two brave souls were some of the best men that crewed for me, and what I want you all to do is try to convince them to rejoin me on the Dragon's Daughter IV. They should still be in Salineas, so if everything goes right, everyone will be a winner. Now…" the captain swung himself to the bow of the ship, "TO ADVENTURE!"

A/N: Another Chapter has arrived! I've been on a roll lately, pretty great. Be sure to leave a review to let me know what you think of the latest chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

Glimmer stared miserably up into the wide, blue sky. Sailing out on the smooth, open sea like this, anyone could instantly become relaxed. Not her though, not today. She just wanted this mission to be over with. She almost wished that she'd never requested this assignment in the first place, only because of the boat ride alone.

"Lookout, reefs on the right side!" Bow shouted out in warning from the crow's nest.

Sora at the helm, steered away. "Aye, and it be starboard to ye, Mister Bow!"

Bow saluted him, "Aye, aye, Captain Sora!"

"No! I think you mean Cabin Boy Sora!" Sea Hawk replied in a huff while tied to the main mass.

Adora snickered as she leaned besides him, "When are you gonna get that Sora's now the new captain? Seriously, you need to realize that we've committed mutiny against you."

"This?" he then blew a raspberry, "No. Sora assured me that this is only temporary. I'll be back at the helm in no time, you'll see."

"Winds be changing to the west! Adjust the mass and sails, Miss Adora!"

"Aye, Sir!" she gave the former captain a victorious grin before leaving to follow her orders.

Sea Hawk's lips trembled before letting out a wail. "Ooooh, someone please tell me how did this happen?!"

Glimmer then felt his eyes on her. "What? You're asking me?"

"Yes, please First Matey Princess Sparkle, tell me what I did that was so wrong!"

Glimmer let out a tired sigh.

* * *

"A-ha! The Serpent of the Sea! I knew he'd be lurking in these waters." Around the Dragon's Daughter IV were the remains of ships that met their untimely demise, and emerging from a large shadow in the water sprung forth a massive sea monster.

"Are you saying you brought us to this ship graveyard on purpose?!" Glimmer couldn't hold herself back.

"Oh course First Matey Princess Shimmer. You see, I provide more than just transportation." As Captain Sea Hawk spoke, Sora had already lept on the massive creature's back and whaled at it while holding as tightly as he could. "I bring forth an ADVENTURE! Tales of the High Seas to share with your friends and those around you." At this point the sea serpent had shot forward and tried to engulfed Adora in it's maw and swallow her, but she held firm between its jaws. She tried to reach back for her sword, but dropped it as the beast thrashed around. Seeing as the sword impaled itself on the deck of the ship, she knew she had to make a break for it. "Now gather round crew, and together we shall fight the foul beast and drive it away in the most spectacular fight of our lives!" Adora escaped from the monster's jaws and jumped down. With her sword back in hand, she was about to recite the magical words to transform into She-Ra, but the serpent lashed out and successfully swallowed her whole. "So, come now, come now. There are no bad ideas on how to tackle this obstacle, not so long as Captain Sea Hawk is here to watch over you!"

"Hang on Adora!" Sora flipped himself around and pried its mouth open. "Okay Adora! Just walk towards the light!" He had to shut his eyes as a blinding light shot out of its mouth as She-Ra crawled her way out while hacking and slashing every few steps. "Or wait, did I get my directions mixed up again?"

Sea Hawk, Glimmer and Bow turned around as saw Sora pull She-Ra out of the gaping, bleed maw of the monster before jumping as close to the ship as possible. The sea serpent gave one more thrash before smacking its head on the port side of the ship, breaking the railings and leaving a heavy dent. It slid back into the water and out of view.

"Blistering Barnacles, did that really just happen?!" Sea Hawk had a bit of a hard time understanding what he just saw.

"Blistering Barnacles, yes, I can't believe you brought us here for all this on purpose!" Glimmer continued reprimanding the man, whilst completely disregarding the epic fight.

Bow ran to the edge of the ship, "Adora, were you just eaten whole and had to cut your way upwards of a sea monster's stomach?!"

She-Ra looked around, trying to think of what just happened, "Um, yeah, I think so."

"You guys are so cool!" He looked at them with stars in his eyes.

Glimmer walked up, "Are you two okay?"

Sora nodded, "Yeah, I think we're good. How you doing?" Sora never got to hear their answer as he was suddenly dragged down beneath the water.

"Wait, not done yet! Give me a sec!" She-ra dove down after them and explosions of light could be seen.

Sea Hawk had to pick up his jaw, "Thundering Typhoons, is that normal for them?"

"Pretty much."

"Got him!" She-Ra emerged from the water with one of Sora's large shoes. She let out a small chuckle, "Whoops, give me another sec for another round."

"Adora! Wrap things up already!" Glimmer yelled.

"On it!" She gave a thumbs up before diving back down.

* * *

"All this because of one offence?" Sea Hawk scoffed, "That was minor at worse, sue me...please don't, I have very little money at this time."

Glimmer rolled her eyes. "What about…"

* * *

The Dragon's Daughter IV was slowly drifting through the fog as they were trying to put as much distance as possible from the ship graveyard as to avoid another encounter with any more sea monsters. Glimmer and Bow were at the top of the crow's nest trying to spy for any obstacles they might collide into.

"Gah, this fog is so frustrating!"

"I know, I can barely see the front of the ship. Glim, think you can teleport to the bow and keep an eye out from there? I'll see what I can work with from up here." With a nod, she flashed away to the front.

Sora and Adora were staring out the port and starboard sides of the ship respectively.

"See anything yet Adora?"

"No, nothing. This fog is killing me. I mean, we could run into another ship and not even know it until it happens."

"Actually, yeah. Why don't you hang out by the bell and give it a few rings every minute."

"Hmm, good idea, lets other ships know that we're here." She moved to the bell next to the main mass and gave it a ring before waiting a minute and rung it again.

Captain Sea Hawk bore a large grin. "Actually, that good idea gave me an even better idea. Question, what is the best way to grab anyone's attention?" Sora and Adora looked at him before giving a shrug. Sea Hawk reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of matches before lighting it up and tossing it on the sail, "With fire of course!"

The two looked at him and the fire with the most shocked face they could muster before hearing Bow's voice from above. "Hey guys, the fog is letting up. I think we're about to exit out of this thing...does anyone smell something burning?"

* * *

"I put it out, didn't I?"

Glimmer crossed her arms.

* * *

Adora rang the bell as fast as she could to get everyone's attention, though honestly it might not have been needed with Bow's high pitched screaming. He really couldn't be blamed though, not with the fire quickly crawling its way to him.

Glimmer ran up with wide eyes, "What the! Why are we on fire?!"

Sora grabbed her cheeks and squeezed, "Forget that for now!" He pointed up, "Teleport up there and get Bow!"

She let out a yelp of surprise blinking up there and blinking back down with a shaken Bow.

"Now what do we do about the fire!" Adora yelled out in panic.

"We're surrounded by water! Why aren't we using that?!" Sora yelled.

"The question is 'how' not 'why!'"

Sea Hawk spied around real quick and noticed some familiar rock formations not too far away. "Fear not, loyal crew members! I, the great Captain Sea Hawk, know exactly what to do! I'll have you know that this isn't my first rodeo."

"Then what's the plan!" Bow shouted.

"Just beyond those rocks is a whirlpool. We'll sail right into it, let it douse us, then escape before it pulls us into our watery graves. Simple as that!"

* * *

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Uh-huh. So that's why-"

* * *

Sora burst out from below deck wearing an outfit of unknown origins that fitted him all too well. It was a traditional pirate outfit, complete with a long, navy blue coat, a crimson red shirt underneath, a black, leather belt, and topped with a tricorn hat. "A-ha! This be a mutiny, I say. Our captain has led us too many times to our nears deaths. I say we should take charge! Who's with me?!"

Adora didn't waste a simple moment before letting out "Here, here!"

"Agh, fine! Maybe we can finally get to Salineas and be done with all this." Glimmer was quick to agree as well.

"I don't know guys, this seems a little extreme, doesn't it? I mean, we can't be that much longer before being arriving, right?"

Sea Hawk tried to defuse the situation. "Alright everyone, let's all calm down for a moment. This is the Cabin Boy for goodness sake! Are you really gonna take his advice? I mean, who else is gonna sail the ship all the way there? Also remember who you're dealing with, the great Captain Sea Hawk! Can any one of you think of anyone that could be greater than I? And besides, you could say goodbye to your upfront deposit."

Bow snapped his attention back to Sora, "I nominate Sora to be our new captain!"

Adora threw a fist into the air, "Here, here!"

"Whatever" Glimmer sighed.

And before he knew it, Sea Hawk found himself tied to the mass. "W-wha?"

Sora gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Ah, don't worry too much about all this. This isn't permanent, once we get back to the mainland the ship is all yours again."

Adora tighten the notts around him before giving him a wink. "It's nothing personal, just that you're kind of incompitent is all." She reached inside his jacket before pulling out a folded up piece of paper. Inspecting it, she turned to Sora and happy exclaimed "Found the map!"

* * *

"LAND HO!"

Finally setting anchor and disembarking the ship, the group finally looked upon Salineas. Sora had mysteriously returned to his normal clothes and untied Sea Hawk before they all entered the city together.

They were all quick to notice how empty it was.

"Where is everyone?"

"You know, now that I think about it, some people here in Salineas seemed awfully keen to leave and move to the mainland. I didn't quite realize how many people were moving until now. I wonder why?" Sea Hawk noted.

Glimmer looked skeptical at him. "There are hundreds, if not, thousands of people living in Salineas. You didn't think anything suspicious was happening when everybody was abandoning the kingdom?"

The captain shrugged. "Business was booming and I had the pleasure of working with my finest crew yet. I guess I was just having too much of a grand time. ADVENTURE was just right around the corner for us!"

The entire time they were talking, the gears in Sora's head were spinning as he was trying to think of what he was being reminded of. It was just on the tip of his tongue before it finally clicked. "This place looks just like Atlantica!" he shouted in glee.

"Loud much?" Adora rubbed the inside of her ear with her pinkie.

"Sorry."

"Halt! Stay where you are!" Sora's shouting seemed to have attracted someone. They watched a man run down some stairs before having to cross a bridge. They all patiently waited for the man until he arrived. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he asked "Who are you and what business do you have here in Salineas?"

Sora was quick to step forward for introductions, "Hi, I'm Sora, and this is Adora, Bow, and Sea Hawk. First Mate Commander Princess Glimmer here would like to speak Princess Mermista!"

The man blinked at him, "I-I'm sorry? First Mate Commander...uh?"

Glimmer rolled her eyes before stepping forward. "Greetings, I am Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon, where I also serve as a military commander. I would formally like to speak with Princess Mermista."

Sea Hawk pushed his way forward, "Hi Samuel, Sea Hawk again. Be sure to let the Princess know that I am here as well. I'm sure she'll be excited to see me again!"

Samuel rolled his eyes before turning around. "This way to the throne room. Princess Mermista has been resting in there since her most recent injuries."

They were taken aback, "My dearest Mermista has been hurt?!"

"Oh no! What happened?"

Samuel shook his head. "She was injured in the most recent Horde attack. I will let Her Highness explain more" he told Glimmer.

From there, they all made a beeline straight to the throne room. There, they found the aquatic Princess sitting hunched on her throne. She looked up at them. "Ew, who let him back in here? Samuel, what did I tell you?!"

Sora and friends blinked in surprise by her reaction, or maybe it wasn't that surprising now that they took a full second to think about it.

"Princess! Oh my dear Mermista, it has been far too long. Oh how you haunt my dreams since we've parted, thinking of you day and night, waiting for-"

Mermista was quick to stop him, "Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. Okay, and-oops, out of time. Try again next time." She looked to the rest of the group, "So who are you guys?"

Sora opened his mouth, but Glimmer's hand was already covering it. "I am Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon. I know we've actually never met before, but our parents fought in the rebellion together."

Mermista's gaze seemed to drift, she seemed hardly interested in the conversation. "Yeah, I remember my folks telling me about the Princess Alliance. I also remember being told about how hard it totally failed. My dad said it was, like, a complete disaster."

Captain Sea Hawk saw a gap in the conversation to slip himself back in, "Princess, I didn't think it was possible, but it seems your beauty grows greater with each passing day. I would be honored if-"

Samuel, with a silent command from his Princess, elbowed him in the gut. "Will you please shut it? I was, like, nearly condemned to a slow and painful death by a gut wound, assuming that the Horde wouldn't finish me off. So understandingly, I've been in, like, a lot of pain and am barely able to get any sleep for the past week. So I hope you totally understand that I'll kabob you if you don't stop annoying me!" she seethed.

The sea captain looked completely ashamed of himself. "I'm-I'm so sorry my Princess." He stepped away.

"Princess, are you going to be okay?" Adora asked her.

She looked miserable, but she waved it off. "I'll be fine, like, thanks to my new friends."

Glimmer stepped forward, "Princess Mermista, can you please tell us what happened?"

The Princess tried to lean back and relax in her throne, only to flinch in pain and slouch forward again. She sighed, "So for a while now the Sea Gate's magic is, like, totally failing now and the Horde is like 'You know what? We should totally attack and try to destroy Salineas!' So yeah, they, like, regularly attack and I have to defend us since my parents totally abandoned me and their country at the first sign of danger. And so, like not even a week ago, the Horde attacked again and I had to drive them away or whatever, but not without them mortaling wounding me and stuff. I'd be totally dead if it wasn't for a wizard and a knight that happened to be passing by." The casual way she told the story felt as though she was retelling a mildly interesting story about what happened when out for shopping.

Glimmer covered her mouth in shock, "Oh my God, that is horrific!"

Bow rubbed the back of his neck while it all sunk in, "Man, that battle must have been crazy. And you were out there all by yourself?"

"Sort of, I had with me that wizard and knight I mentioned earlier. But yeah, it was so insane."

Captain Sea Hawk fell on his knees and scurried over to her and grabbed a hold of her hand, "My dearest Mermista, I am so sorry that I wasn't there to help you in your time of need. I should have been here by your side, but I have been so busy with my business. It has been booming for weeks now and I had found my best crew yet, I've been oh so distracted."

She yanked her hand away, "Duh! I know you've been busy. Who do you think got you that job to help move everybody's possessions to the mainland, idiot?!"

Sea Hawk's eyes watered up before he grabbed her hand again. "After all the trouble I had put you through, you still went out of your way to keep my work steady? Even after what happened at the Dolphin Social? I swear to you, my dearest, until you and your kingdom are truly safe from the evil reach of the Horde, I shan't leave your side! I will do everything in my power to help serve and protect you!"

"Aww" Sora and Glimmer couldn't help but coo at his loving proclamation for Mermista.

"That actually sounded really sweet" Adora couldn't help but agree.

Princess Mermista couldn't stop or hide the blush on her face, "Okay, fine, geez. I'll take you back, just get back up, you're embarrassing me again."

Glimmer was a little pink in the face as she approached the Mermaid Princess, "Oh that was so cute and sweet. I mean, the ENTIRE time on our way here, I kept thinking to myself that there was nothing about Sea Hawk that I-you know what, nevermind that train of thought!" she giggled nervously to herself. She cleared her throat and became serious. "Princess Mermista, the Horde is the very reason why we are here. Right now I am reforming the Princess Alliance to help defeat the Horde."

Mermista scoffed, "Right, because, like, that worked so well before."

Glimmer was far from giving up. "Please, hear me out. Right now we have four other Princesses with us, and I intend to invite more, but unlike before we now have not just one, but two secret weapons to help us win." Sora and Adora took that as their cue to step forward. "These two are Adora and Sora. They're both warriors of ancient legends that could help us save our world. Adora with her magic sword can transform into the legendary She-Ra, and Sora is a powerful Keyblade wielder from beyond the fabled stars. Seriously, these two are the real game changer."

She blinked twice at them, "Who and wha? I think I heard of She-Ra before, sometime during my studies or something. Like, what does that really tell me anyway?"

"That these two can really kick Horde butt like you wouldn't believe!" Bow excitedly told her.

"Like, what's a couple of warriors whereas the Horde has endless machines going for them?"

During their back and forth, Adora's wandering gaze was locked to a mural on the wall where there were some familiar writings and symbols. She approached it, "This is First Ones' writing."

Sora followed her. "Can you read that? What does it say?"

Everyone in the room paused as they noticed to listen in. "It's talking about the Sea Gate. The First Ones must have built it. Um, okay, it looks like the gate itself is fed its magical power from the Salinean Runestone. If I'm understanding this right, the reason the Sea Gate would be failing is because it's losing its connection to its powersource."

Glimmer rushed over to their side, "Do you think you can fix it?"

She shrugged, "I can try."

Sora called out across the room, "Hey Mermista, if we can fix your gate, will you think about joining us?"

She let out a long moan, "I don't know. I, like, got a guy working on it already, that wizard I told you about. I mean it's a slow process for him, but he is actually repairing it. I guess we can see what he has to say." Mermista stood up and approached a small waterfall only to reveal a doorway to the Sea Gate.

After moving from platform to platform, they all approached the center of the magical gate where two very oddly shaped figures stood. At that, Sora and Sea Hawk almost couldn't believe their eyes.

"So these are my two new friends that totally saved my fish tail. Their names are-"

"DONALD, GOOFY!" Sora shouted and rushed forward.

The two jumped before turning around. "SORA!"

The three collided into a tangled mess of hugs at first before picking themselves up.

"Wow! I can't believe it!"

"You're okay!"

"We were so worried about you!"

"What happened to you guys?!"

"You wouldn't believe what's happened!"

"The crazy stuff that's been happening!"

Everyone was almost floored at the revelation.

"Wait, these are the friends Sora's been looking for?!" Glimmer shouted.

"That's the same Sora that Donald and Goofy were telling me about?! I totally thought he'd look like something else entirely" Mermista couldn't help.

"Wow, they really do look like a duck and a dog!" Bow pointed out.

"They've been here in Salineas the whole time?" Adora asked aloud.

"No, they were with me as my perfect crew! My chance to get them back is nigh!"

"This is unbelievable" they all spoke in unison. They all smiled at their little reunion before they realized that their happy cheering turned into angry shouting.

"This is all your fault!" Donald pointed.

"My fault?! How is this my fault?!" Sora demanded.

"'I've got this. It's like riding a bike, I know what I'm doing!'"

"How was I supposed to know that they updated and changed the controls?!"

"That's why I told you to turn back!"

"We were able to get the hang of the basics! I thought we'd be fine!"

"And look where that got us!"

"I wasn't even the one that was piloting! Goofy was and he fell asleep at the controls!"

"What?! Are ya now saying it's my fault?!"

"Yeah, kind of!"

"Why was Goofy at the controls?!"

"I asked him to take my shift in flying!"

"GOOFY CAN'T FLY!"

"How was I supposed to know that?!"

"You never noticed him not flying before?!"

"You always flew! It took forever for me to finally take the controls! Besides, why didn't you say anything when I gave you the controls, Goofy?!"

"Well I see you and Donald always working it, I figured it couldn't be that hard!"

"But you fell asleep at the controls!"

Their shouting match eventually devolved into a brawl. This was a turn no one was expecting. In fact, they were all about to step in and break it apart, but the trio accidently sent themselves over the edge of the floating platform and into the waters below.

The three came up for air, and when everyone thought they'd be angrier than ever, the trio started laughing around before they went back for another hug.

"Aw, I missed you guys so much!"

"We missed you too, Sora. We were so worried about you."

"Ah shucks, now that the three of us are back together, there aint nothin' that we can't do!"

As they swam and worked their way back to the main platform, everyone else was trying to process what they had just witnessed.

"What. Just. Happened?" Mermista asked, feeling a little dazed.

"We just noticed a super best friends reunion, that's what!" Bow was excited, "So which one was Donald again? I got a huge, huge favor to ask him!"

"Seems just about right, after knowing Sora for as long as we have" Glimmer commented.

"Glimmer, you guys have hardly known either of us for that long" Adora reminded her, still befuddled.

"Which is a testament of how powerful Sora's personality is."

"Mmh, yeah, I guess I'll give you on that one" she conceded.

"So wait, if this is the chap that Donald and Goofy have been looking for, things aren't looking so well for Captain Sea Hawk and his merry crew" the sea captain lamented.

"I don't think so either" Bow agreed with him.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all returned to the platform with the others with smiles on their faces, despite being dripping wet.

"Adora, Glimmer, Bow! I want you guys to meet two of my closest friends, Donald Duck and Goofy too!"

"Hey Mermista! This here is our pal Sora that we've told you so much about! Can ya believe the odds that he'd come to us?!" Goofy pushed him forward.

"Oh boy! I just realized that the three of us are together again, here in Salineas! Are you two thinking what I'm thinking?" Donald asked.

Sora nodded, "Time to put on a concert!"

"Boy Howdy, this is gonna be great!" Goofy was already jumping up and down.

"A concert you say?!" Sea Hawk slid between them all. "Perhaps we can sway everyone with my grand shanties?!"

"No shanty!" Donald and Mermista yelled at him.

"Hiya Captain, what are you doing back here in Salineas? Didn't ya finish your last job?" Goofy asked.

"I've returned for the two of you to rejoin my crew and to win back my dear Mermista's affection!"

"Forget it!" Donald yelled.

"EVERYONE QUIET!" Glimmer yelled. Immediately everyone simmered down. She took a deep breath. "Sora, I'm glad you and your friends are reunited again, really I am, but we still have a mission. Sea Hawk, you and your former crew are gonna have to put your discussion on hold until we're done with our business, no buts!" She turned to the Mermista, "Princess, the Sea Gate please."

"Oh, right, um. Hey Donald, how's it going with the Sea Gate?"

"Ohh, um, uhh~" Donald waddled over to the edge of the platform and looked down. Water was still pouring in through gaps. "Progress is slowing down. I think the Sea Gate is somehow starting to resist my magic?"

Bow walked forward, "Yeaaaah, that would make sense. Adora just said that the First One's writing indicated that they built it. Their technology is amazingly complex and adaptive, they would be able to resist foriegn magic eventual, just like how our body can make antibodies to fight foreign bacteria. That would mean that we have to use their technology to reactivate the connection to the runestone."

"And She-Ra's sword is First One's Technology!" Glimmer finished excitedly.

"So Adora and her sword is probably the only one you can fix the Sea Gate."

Donald scratched his head, "Wait, we need Adora's sword, or She-Ra's?"

"Wait, I'm lost. Who's She-Ra?" Goofy asked.

Sora pointed, "Adora's She-Ra."

"Then if she's She-Ra, who's Adora?" Goofy asked again.

"Adora is still Adora, right over their." Sora pointed again.

"I thought ya said that's She-Ra?"

"She is She-Ra."

"But-"

Glimmer teleported between them. "Enough with the pronoun game! Adora uses the magical sword there to transform into the legendary warrior called She-Ra!"

"Oh, why didn't ya say so?"

"I did say so-!"

Glimmer held out both her hands to their faces, "Nah Nah Nah!" She turned to Donald. "Wizard Donald, does what Bow said make sense."

Donald scratched his head again, "Uh, I think it does. I don't know anything about First One's and their technology, and I know ancient magic is always finicky, so I guess it does make a bit of sense."

"So you think we should let her do her thing with the Sea Gate then?" Mermista asked him.

He nodded his head, "Sure, I don't think I can make any more real progress at this rate."

Glimmer walked up to the Sea Princess, "So if we can fix the Sea Gate, would you please reconsider?"

"Wait, what's going on?" Goofy asked.

Mermista let out a moan, "They're asking that if they fix the gate, that I would consider joining her and her rebellion against the Horde." She let out another sigh, "Fine, I'll consider."

Adora stepped forward and looked at the seal in the center of the barrier before taking a deep breath, "For the Honor of Grayskull!" In an explosion of rainbow colors, taking Adora's place stood the much taller warrior known as She-Ra. Princess Mermista, Donald and Goofy all rubbed their eyes in disbelief (and the colorful blasts of light that assaulted them).

"Okay, wow! That's...different, and not totally not awesome I guess." Mermista couldn't help but admire the unassuming girl's new form.

Donald jumped, "Wow, that was amazing! Was that magic or that First One's technology you were telling us?"

Goofy stood right next to her, "Golly, look at how tall you got! And your hair is so long and pretty." He removed his hat and stroked that few strands that still sat on his noggin. "Gosh, think that sword's magic could do me a small favor?" he chuckled.

Sora rushed up to her, "She's so cool, isn't she you guys? But don't be fooled, she may look super strong and stuff, but I can still beat her at arm wrestling!"

She gave him a gaping look of disbelief, "What?! Get off it! I had you on the ropes before Glimmer interrupted us, and you know it!"

"Nuh-uh! Didn't you see your arm quivering like a leave in the wind. You were toast, and you know it!"

Glimmer teleported between the two before smacking them both upside the head. "Ow!" They both rubbed their heads.

"Knock it off, you're making a bad impression in front of Princess Mermista! You're both legendary warriors for crying out loud!"

Ashamed, Sora and She-Ra in unison both dropped their heads and said "Sorry."

The tall warrior straightened herself up and held her sword in front of her, "Alright, wish me luck." Both she and the sword began to glow as a beam of blue energy shot out and collided with the barrier's central control. Slowly, but surely, the controls began to glow and change colors.

Donald smiled and ran up, "Oh boy! Look how fast it's working!"

She-Ra flinched at the sudden movement and noise before her process was completed halted. "Hey, don't do that! This is a lot more difficult than it looks!"

Donald scratched the side of his head, "Sorry about that." He took a modest step away.

She-Ra rubbed her face and head, "Seriously, I think I literally feel my brain tingling all over from all this."

Bow brought his hands to his face and gasped, "Oh wow! I wonder if the First One's tech is actually using your brain as an organic central processing unit?! What this could mean is-!"

Glimmer ran and punched his shoulder, "Stop talking like that! You're only reminding me that Entrapta wants to dissect her in the event that she dies!"

She-Ra was in the middle of starting her second attempted when she flailed before turning around. "ENTRAPTA WANTS TO WHAT?!"

"NOTHING! She isn't going to do anything if I have anything to say about it, and you're not dying, okay! So that's that! Just get back to your thing already!"

Mermista gave them all a disturbed look as her right eye twitched. "So, like, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you guys are all, like, soooooooo weird."

Sora just laughed out loud, "Yeah, we are so TOTALLY weird!"

A minute went by as She-Ra focused the sword's energy on the barrier before Goofy began to hear an odd noise. "Say fellas, does anyone hear that?" he kept his voice low as to not disturb She-Ra from her work. Everyone tried to listen.

"I don't hear anything" Sora shrugged.

Donald asked "What does it sound like?"

Goofy lifted his ear to listen some more. "It sounds like a humming, whirling noise."

"Humming, whirling noise?" Bow thought out loud. "Like hmmm hmmm woow woow?"

"No, no, nothing like that."

Sea Hawk stepped forward, "I know what he's talking about. During this time of year, the Grey Salineas whales migrate and there must be a pod of them not too far off! Does it sound hmmmmmmmou, whiiiiiirrrro!"

"Shhhh!" came from Glimmer, "You're too loud."

"Sorry," Goofy waved softly, "No, that's not it either."

Mermista flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Good, those guys are such jerks. 'Oh, look at me, look at me. I'm a majestic whale, like, everyone thinks I'm so amazing and beautiful, so I can totally get away with whatever I want. If I do something bad, people will automatically think it was their fault and never blame us.' Gaaah, they're so full of themselves!"

Glimmer turned around, bringing a finger to her lips before shushing thing again even louder.

Mermista crossed her arms before mumbling "Sorry."

"Okay, how about you try telling us what it sounds like?" Sora suggested.

"I don't think I can, but I think I've ever heard of something like that while we were trapped inside Ansem's supercomputer."

Donald jumped, "Oh, that's easy! It must be a big machine."

"Oh, duh, we should have figured that out sooner." Sora swung his arms behind his head.

…

…

…

Mermista, Glimmer and Bow blinked hard, "Wait, a big machine?!" they shouted before everyone turned around to see two Horde ships steaming their way towards the Sea Gate, and the lead ship had a large cannon charging itself with green energy. Before anything else could be said or done, the cannon fired a large laser beam that collided and managed to cut through the Sea Gate's barrier.

The feedback that the blast created on the shield generators caused the currents to electrocute She-Ra, she screamed in pain before dropping her sword. Sora and Glimmer were by her side, but she picked herself back with sword in hand.

"Adora, are you okay?" Glimmer put a hand on her.

She grunted before looking out at the two ships, "Yeah I'm fine! Dammit, I can't believe that the Horde's here right when I'm so close to fixing it."

"You were?! How much more time do you need?!" Sora asked.

She-Ra raised her sword and continued with her repairs, "Um, not much longer, I think. You've got to buy me as much time as you can!"

Sora did a quick headcount, "Okay, seeing as Mermista is hurt and Adora's busy, they're six of us and two ships. Let's split up! Donald, Goofy and I will stick together and hit the ship with the cannon!"

"Can you disable the cannon?!" Bow asked him.

"...I can hit it a whole bunch."

"How about you guys hit the other ship and we'll take on the cannon?"

Sora, Donald, Goofy looked at each other before giving a shrug and turned to Bow with a thumbs up.

"Ready!" Sora shouted.

"Betting!" Donald followed.

"And willing!" Goofy finished.

The three of them then yelled "CHARGE!" Before rushing to the ship on the left. The ship was close enough that they could jump on its deck after running along the Sea Gate. The three looked around at everyone on deck.

Sora smiled, "Man, this feels so right, now that we're all together again!"

As the trio got to work dispatching everyone on their ship, Bow focused on his as he tried to think of a plan to disable the cannon. Hopefully his gunk arrow would stop anyone from operating it further, but there was still a problem… "How am I supposed to take on everyone on that ship?!"

Glimmer was looking around for an idea, then Sea Hawk's ship caught her eye. "Bow, I think I have a plan! Work on taking out that cannon, I'll bring in some extra firepower." She ran up to Sea Hawk, "You! You're coming with me!" She teleported them away to Sea Hawk's ship while Bow prepped a grappling arrow.

Following a similar path as Sora, Donald, and Goofy, Bow ran along the Sea Gate before jumping and let his arrow fly. Now latched to the main mast, he swung his way and landed successfully on the enemy ship. He then kicked a blond cadet in the gut before turning around and letting loose her gunk arrow on its target. Unfortunately, the Horde's cannon got another shot in before the gunk got all over the controls.

Stumbling, Sea Hawk looked around before realizing he was back on the Dragon's Daughter IV. "W-wha? We're back on my ship?"

"That's right, everyone needs help and this ship is gonna be the extra firepower we need if we're gonna win this battle!" Glimmer declared.

He gave he an abysmal, "You've commandeered my ship after a mutiny! You should know that she doesn't have any weapons!"

She looked nervous for a moment, "This boat doesn't have any cannons?! Why?!"

"Ship!" he corrected. "And no, because cannons are expensive! I nearly lost my entire fortune along with the Dragon's Daughter III, I couldn't afford them!"

Glimmer stood in front of the main mast before she repeatedly banged her head against it. "Damn it! How are we supposed to take down our ship?!"

"Ha, ha! Taking down enemy ships is Captain Sea Hawk's specialty! What I can do is swing us behind the ship, I'll climb through a vent shaft, find the engine room, blow it to kingdom come, and poof! Problem solved."

Glimmer pulled at her face, but an idea stuck. "I can't believe I'm about to say this…"

Goofy threw a Horde Soldier over his shoulder before bashing himself into the last remaining battle droid into the sea. "That's the last of 'em!"

"The ship is ours!" Sora cheered. The other enemy shipped fired its cannon again. "But I don't think things are going well on the other ship."

"We gotta go help them!" Donald squacked.

"But we don't know the first thing about stopping that cannon."

Goofy turned to Donald, "Say Donald, why don't we do what we did last time? Ram our captured ship into theirs, that way if that cannon goes o' kabloomy, it would at least happen underwater."

Sora pumped his fist, "Goofy, you're a genius!"

"That's what I keep on telling ya!"

Donald led the way, "Follow me!"

Meanwhile, Bow was fighting tooth and nail against the Horde Soldiers, particularly a young, female cadet with dreads in a ponytail. He had managed to escape her choke hold before throwing her off his back and into the water. He thought he was all clear to deactivate the giant cannon, but when he turned around, he was face to face with a large woman with the pincer claws and a scorpion tail. She bore a Force Captain insignia on her chest.

"Uh-oh" he squacked out.

"Yup, that about sums it up," she replied cheerfully before she wrapped her tail around his ankle and tossing him against the wall. Bow pushed himself up before she walked up and bear hugged him from behind. "You know, I'm a pretty hugsy kind of girl, but I get the distinct feeling you might now like this."

Bow realized what she meant as he looked down and saw that she was hanging him above the ship's engine turbine. If she dropped him, he'd be shredded into confetti! "Gah! Please don't!"

The Force Captain shrugged, "Sorry bud, a job's a job, and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...bye." She let go.

Bow screamed as he plummeted towards certain death. He shut his eyes tightly, not bearing to watch the end, but then he felt a pair of strong arms grab hold of him. He opened his eyes to see none other than Sea Hawk swinging from a rope from the main mast. "Sea Hawk!"

"Of course it is I! Captain Sea Hawk to the rescue!" He swung them down to the deck of the approaching Dragon's Daughter IV with Glimmer at the helm. She ran up to him.

"Bow! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm good, thanks to Sea Hawk! That was so cool!" he gushed.

"Okay, on with the plan then!"

" **NOT SO FAST! OH WAIT, YOU GUYS SAVED BOW ALREADY?! ANYWAY, HORDE CANNON, YOU'RE GOING DOWN!** " Everyone heard the announcement made on the Horde's PA system. Everyone turned and saw the second Horde ship making its way to ram the one armed with the massive cannon. Sora's voice shouted again, " **CHAAAAAAARGE!** "

The scorpion tailed Force Captain rolled her eyes before turning the cannon towards the hijacked ship and fire, easily tearing a massive gash its bottom side. The ship quickly litsp towards its side and started to sink.

" **AW MAN, REALLY?! THIS SUCKS! RETREAT, ABANDON SHIIIIIIIIIP!** "

With the Horde's attention facing the wrong way, Glimmer saw the perfect chance to enacted her plan. "Sea Hawk, NOW!" Hearing the signal, the sea captain dropped a lit match down the cargo hatch where he had smashed every barrel of rum and booze, instantly lighting the ship ablaze. Together, Glimmer, Bow and Sea Hawk yelled out "ADVENTURE!" Before the Princess teleported them away. The ship, now effectively a giant burning projectile, smashed itself into the Horde ship and sank it almost immediately.

She-Ra, who was barely able to keep focus on the barrier, has also been dealing with her former best friend who had been attacking her relentlessly.

Catra laughed as she suckerpunched the much taller warrior. "Seriously Adora, this is sad. When did you become so weak?" Her hand shot out and left a deep scratch mark on She-Ra cheek. "Are you just gonna stand there like an idiot or are you gonna let me keep kicking you around?" At the she kicked at the back of her knee, bringing She-Ra down, but she still held her sword out.

"I'm-not giving up!"

Catra casually shrugged before raising her hand to scratch at her again, but before she could…"KITTY!" She was tackled to the ground as a soaking wet Sora tried to cuddle with her.

To say that the newly minted Force Captain was flabbergasted would be an understatement. "W-what the?! Who the Hell?! Get off of me you freak!"

"Not until you and every other cat loves me!"

She struggled before being able to turn around and face him, that was when she could kick at him. She made enough space to move her arms and scratched him twice across the face before making her escape.

"KITTY, WHY?!" Sora cried out as he rubbed his eyes.

Catra let out a huff, "What the Hell is the matter with you?!"

Sora reached his hand out with wet eyes, "I just want you to love me! Why do cats hate me so much?! I'm practically one of you already!"

She pointed at him and faced her former friend, "What is the deal with this guy?!"

She-Ra let out a chuckle from her throat, "Hey, what can I say Catra, I've always made friends with the crazies. Besides, he's fast to grows on you."

"Wait, you're Catra?! Wow, just now I was like 84% sure you were a talking cat...Wait, Catra?! Adora's told me so much about you!" Sora stood up like nothing had happened.

Catra elbowed She-Ra on her side, making her grip waver, "Oh, so she has mentioned me. What did she say, That I'm a terrible person? That I'm a bad friend that doesn't care about her feelings?"

Sora's hands were behind his head, "Nah, she talked about how you're her first and also best friend, about how you guys liked to pull pranks on jerky officers, stealing rations, kicked butt together, stuff like that. She also really wants you to change your mind so you two can be together again while doing the right thing." Catra blinked and looked back at She-Ra before back at Sora. "We're friends now, right?"

She glared at him, "With a freak like you? No. Adora, just give up the sparkly lights, the pretty tiara, the long flowing hair, and just come back home already. We don't need to do this! You even swore to me that you'd never wear a skirt, just look how short that thing is?!"

"And I keep telling you, I'm never going back to the Horde...and I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but the skirt is actually surprisingly comfortable and breezy. You should try it."

Catra cracked her neck before rearing back a fist to punch her, "BAD TOUCH!" Sora tackled her to the ground and was more aggressive in subduing her. They ended up rolling to a stop next to She-Ra when Catra viciously bit down on his arm. "Gah! No kitty, that's a bad kitty!"

"Sora, stop!" She-Ra called out. The two halted and looked up at her curiously, she then asked "Catra, please, will you stop all this and come with me?"

Catra leered at her, "I'm not some scared traitor like you."

She sighed very disappointingly, "Then maybe next time...Sora, get her out of here."

"Got it!" He punched her on the top of her head before grabbing her by the tail and swung her out into the waters far below. She screamed the entire way. Sora watched as a Horde lifeboat cruised by and picked her up. "Neat."

"So are we done now? Can I focus on repairing the Sea Gate?"

A dripping wet Donald and Goofy approached. "What just happened?"

"Gosh, I think we just saw one of them there flying cats."

Sora looked between the two before answering, "Yup, I think we're done here."

She let out a sigh of relief and focused on the Sea Gate. The trio watched as the dull pink barrier turned into a vibrant blue. Goofy ran and stuck his head out to look down below. "We did it! The water isn't passing through anymore! We saved Salineas!"

Donald jumped with joy, "Oh boy!"

"Three cheers for Adora!" Sora called out as he ran up to a now deformed and tired Adora. Goofy quickly joined him and together they grabbed a leg and balanced her on their shoulders. "Hip, hip!"

"Hooray!"

"Hip, hip!"

"Hooray" The droll second cheer was joined by a limping Princess Mermista being brought out by her faithful servant.

"Hip, hip!"

"Hooray!" The final cheer was joined by the distant Glimmer, Bow and Sea Hawk

Situated back in the throne room, everyone stood around the seated Princess of Salineas. If she were any other Princess or leader, she would have spoken loudly and with authority, but she still spoke with her disinterested attitude. "Yay, you guys managed to repel a Horde invasion, something I've totally been doing on my own for over a month." Most of everyone's jaw nearly dropped, but before anyone could say anything, she continued "Although I suppose none of the previous attacks had a giant cannon like that, and you guys did actually fix the Sea Gate, sooooo I guess thanks are, like, in order or something like that. So yeah, thanks and junk."

Everyone figured the Princess well enough to know that was her way of saying thank you. Glimmer excitedly stepped forward, "Does this mean you'll think about joining the Alliance?"

She let out a sigh, "Donald, Goofy, what do you two think?"

Goofy stood behind Sora with his hands on his shoulder, "If Sora here thinks that this here Princess Alliance is gonna help everyone, then I can say I'm on board!"

"That's right! If everyone stands together united, there isn't anything you guys can't do!" Donald easily agreed.

Mermista rested her chin on her propped hand. "'Kay, I'm in."

"You are?!"

Princess Mermista stood up and carefully stretched her back. "Yeah I am. Those assholes attacked my home-"

Goofy put his hands on his hips, "Language, missy!"

"Gah," she rolled her eyes, "Sorry. Those _jerks_ attacked my home and nearly destroyed it. Salineas is my kingdom now, so I guess I now have the responsibility of defending it. Also I'm totally down with showing up the sad excuse of my parents slash royal rulers that I'm waaaaay better than them. So yeah, I'm in."

"Yahoo!" Glimmer couldn't contain herself and jumped the Mermaid Princess, squeezing her in a hug. Sora, Donald and Goofy were jumping and cheering around her as Bow and Sea Hawk threw a fist in the air with huzzahs.

Mermista couldn't help blush, "Wow, okay, calm down. Geez, you guys would be so embarrassing if it wasn't for the awesome eight-foot tall chick you've got with you." She let out a disappointed sigh as she turned to Sora, Donald and Goofy, "So, Donald and Goofy, what are you guys gonna do now that you've found your friend?"

"Oh!" Sora remembered, "I forgot to tell you guys. We've found someone to help fix the Gummi Ship. Her name is Princess Entrapta, she's at Brightmoon Castle working on it now. All we gotta do is find the missing pieces!"

"Boy howdy!"

"Wait, didn't I promise you two a ship and crane as a reward for helping with the Sea Gate?" Mermista recalled.

"That's right!" Donald jumped, "We have a good chuck of the ship from where we crashed. We can bring it back to Brightmoon!"

The Princess of Salineas crossed her arms, "Okay, fine." She pointed at Sea Hawk, "Since you lost your ship, you'll be getting the one with a crane as a replacement. It's a win-win."

Sea Hawk swooned for a moment, "Ah~! Another ship?! A celebration party I must have for the Dragon's Daughter V, the legendary 'v'! Fantastic!" He stood there in thought for a moment, "Wait a moment, how is Cabin Boy Sora's part of the ship all the way at Brightmoon? There isn't a body of water nearly close enough for that to make sense?"

Princess Mermista tilted her head in thought as well, "Huh, yeah, that's right."

"Oh, that's easy. That's because-" Sora started, but was interrupted by Donald.

"Sora! Did you forget already about World Order?!"

"But-"

"No buts!"

Sora sighed, "Okay, how about next time when you guys come to Brightmoon, we'll tell you more?"

"Or maybe next time we come to visit, maybe to put on a concert?" Goofy suggested.

Adora put her hands on her hips, "You guys are bent on having your concert, aren't you?"

"Yeah!" Sora pumped his fist.

Mermista let out another sigh, "I was afraid that you guys would be leaving. Guess I shouldn't complain, not after all the help you guys gave me."

In a blink of an eye, Sora, Donald and Goofy were huddled up whispering to each other. There seemed to be a bit of bickering until they finally agreed on something. They all nodded before surrounding the Mermaid Princess.

"A 1, 2, 3, 4~" Goofy started.

"~Even though we're hitting the roads, our kingdoms aren't far apart!

Which means…

It's easy to come and go,

And sing!

So don't be sad, and always know, we'll come back soon to say hello!~"

* * *

A/N: Phew, sorry for the wait everyone! End of the year is always total chaos. I ended up taking up on some overtime for Black Friday, then the winter holidays were just around the corner. Too much! Anyway, everyone, seriously drop me reviews and PMs. They seriously help me keep on track with the writing. Hope to get another one out soon!

But First...A Christmas Special

* * *

Sitting together in the parlor watching the fire crackle in the fireplace was Queen Angela, Princess Glimmer, Adora and Bow. It was the first time in awhile where they all actually had some downtime. No battles to fight, no supplies to deliver, no war councils to attend to, just rest and relaxation. The Queen sat comfortably on a loveseat, her daughter resting her head on her lap, Adora laid closer to the fireplace while taking in the view, and Bow sat on clawed chair while studying from a history book. No one really spoke, just pure, silent tranquility…

BOOM!

Sora kicked the door in while carrying the front half of a pine tree while Goofy supported the other half, Donald right behind them with a large, weaved basket filled with all sorts of goodies, "Yes! This room is perfect! Man, do you guys know how to pick them?!"

Everyone had jumped in fright and looked none too pleased about this. "Sora, Donald, Goofy! What is the meaning of this?!" the Queen demanded.

"What does it look like?" Sora asked with a big smile on his face.

Donald already put down a stand in the corner, "We're setting up a Christmas Tree!"

"Boy howdy, isn't this just your favorite time of the year?!" Goofy set down the tree properly. "The time of giving and sharing, putting away all your ugly troubles for just at least one day and night, and having a grand time with your closest friends and family. Gosh, it's just all so great!"

Sora nodded, "Yup, couldn't have said it better myself, Goofy."

Donald slumped forward, "It's just too bad we can't be with the rest of our friends and family. This will be the first ever Christmas I spend without the boys and Daisy."

"Maxy and the King and Queen too, gosh."

Sora put his hands behind his head, "C'mon guys, it's not the greatest, but we can still have a good time. What do all you guys think?"

Angela still hadn't stopped frowning. "I'm thinking you still owe me a proper explanation for all this."

The three looked at each other before Sora reiterated again, "What do you mean? It's Christmas."

Glimmer crossed her arms, "Yeah, we don't know what that is."

They looked to Adora and Bow, who only shrugged in response. "WHAT?! NO CHRISTMAS?!" they shouted.

"Are you guys seriously telling me that you guys don't have Christmas?!"

"Yes already, geez! Are you gonna keep on gawking and making a racket, or are you gonna tell us already?!"

Sora waved his hands incredulously, "This is crazy! Christmas, that one day at the end of the year where everyone gather round, and uh, uh, and do what Goofy said! You put up a Christmas Tree, decorate it, you then hang your stockings over the fireplace, and-"

The regal Queen stood up with firm, angry hands at her hips, "I don't know where you're getting these crazy ideas from, but under no circumstances, am I or my daughter to hang up our stockings anywhere so someone can see them! If you think-"

Donald pulled out a large, sock shaped bag and waved, "No, no! Not those kind of stockings, these, look!" He showed them the festively decorated bag with his name on it. "You hang these over the fireplace and put treats and goodies in there."

Her Majesty took a calming breath before being handed the stocking. It was cute, sewn on was a snowy cabin with a happy looking snowman in front wearing a hat, scarf, and mittens. Above in in gold letters read 'Donald Duck.' "Hmm, well, this seems pleasant. Treats and goodies you say?"

Bow walked up, "Like fruits and candy?!"

Goofy nodded, "Oh yeah, small gifts and toys too if they can fit."

"Sweet!" Bow dug into the basket and pulled out a blank stocking and then held it close to himself. "We're doing this, right?!"

Glimmer smiled, "Yeah, this kind of sounds fun. Tells us more, what else is there?"

Sora smiled, "Okay! Well, Christmas is all about doing good, so what we can do is go out and hand out food and blankets for those that don't have any-"

Glimmer raised an eyebrow, "Wait, don't we do that all the time anyway?"

"-Okay, we can go out and decorate the place?"

"The whole castle?!" Bow scratched his head.

"Uh, right, I know! We can go out and sing Christmas Carols!"

The Queen held her chin, "Hmm, sing otherworldly songs to my citizens? I feel as though whatever message they carry will most likely get lost. It also won't do for my image as Queen to be out singing randomly to the people, there must be royal standard to keep."

The three slumped forward. Goody scratched at his noggin, "Gee, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be."

"Maybe we can just contain it to just the seven of us and this room?" Donald suggested.

"Hey, good thinking Donald! We'll decorate just this room, share Christmas stories, games, and songs while explaining it along the way."

"And I say we get started on makin' some of them there cookies. Y'all can't have Christmas without setting down some milk and cookies for Santa Claus" Goofy was already rolling up his sleeves.

Adora, who hadn't any interest and stayed quiet, finally spoke up, "Santa who?"

Sora's hands smacked both of his cheeks in disbelief, "And you guys don't know Santa Claus?! He's the embodiment of Christmas! To make a long story short, he's a jolly old man in a red suit and hat that goes around delivery toys to good boys and girls around the world, all of them! He's the best!"

Bow screamed with joy, "This guy sounds amazing!"

Goofy nodded, "That's right he is. He has a nice and naughty list, and he's checking it twice, and every year on Christmas Eve like tonight, he visits everyone's homes to deliver toys for good kids, and a lump of coal for the naughty. He sneaks down the chimney, leaves what's due, take a bite and sip of the milk and cookies to recharge, and up he goes back on the roof where his sleigh sits pulled by eight magical flying reindeer."

Adora looked skeptical, "What? No way, you're making that up. There is no way any of that is real. Delivering presents to every boy and girl in one night? That's just not numerically possible."

Sora dived at her, wrapping her up with a hand over her mouth. He looked around everywhere, paranoid, "Shhh! Don't say that! I said and thought the very same thing once upon a time, and I got taken off the nice list! Santa is totally real, we met him before and it was the greatest thing ever. Nod if you understand!" She did so, and Sora relented.

Queen Angela put a hand to her cheek, "My, he sounds like quite the character, this Santa Claus."

Donald nodded, "Uh-ha, he sure is, and we got to help him save Christmas. Twice. Actually within a week of each other, crazy enough."

"Oh, do tell."

"Sure."

Sora looked to Adora, Glimmer and Bow, "So are you guys pumped for Christmas yet?!"

Glimmer and Bow quickly replied with "Yeah!"

Adora shrugged her shoulders, "Meh."

Sora's jaw dropped, "After everything we told you, you're not interested?!"

Adora shrugged again, "I mean, back in the Horde, we never did candy, treats, toys or anything like that. So already all of that is over my head."

"Come on, Adora, you'll love it! Just like how you had your first party and you loved that. This will be the same, but better in every way, I promise!" Sora guaranteed her.

She stood there and thought about it before she smiled. "You know what? I think I'm gonna give it a try. Okay, you got me excited. What do we do first?"

Sora grabbed the large basket. "First we'll weave our names on some stocking and hang them by the fireplace, then we'll get to decorating the tree and the room."

An hour later, after splitting jobs apart, everything was ready. Sora, Donald and Adora decorated the Christmas Tree, Glimmer and Bow headed to the kitchen to bake several batches of cookies, and Queen Angela and Goofy decorated the room. With the cookies warm and ready to eat, they were about to sit down.

"Wait!" Sora realized, "We need milk to go with these cookies!" Sora hopped back on his feet, "Who wants to help me get enough for everyone?"

Adora stood up, "I'll come." Together they exited and headed off to the kitchen.

Suddenly Goofy was struck with an idea. Covering his mouth and silently chuckling to himself, he leaned in towards Donald and whispered in his ear. The wizard quickly did the same before nodding. Donald stood watch at the door while Goofy dug through the large, weaved basket before finding what he was looking for. He then grabbed the ladder before propping it up by the door and held out some sort of plant.

"They're coming" Donald called out, "Everybody watch this!"

Everyone watched as Donald took a few steps back and waited for the pair to enter the room. He held up a hand for them to stop, which they did. He quickly took the tray of glass cups and the pitcher of milk away before smiling and pointed up.

The two looked up at a bashful Goofy who waved at them, but Sora saw and understood what was happening. "W-wha?! A m-m-m-mistletoe?!" His hands quickly covered his glowing red face as steam could be seen escaping his ears.

Adora raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"Yeah, I don't get it" Glimmer complained.

Donald snickered, "It's another holiday tradition."

"That's right, if two people get caught under a mistletoe, they gotta kiss. Ah-hyuck, ho ho ho hoi!"

Adora instantly became as red as Sora, "K-k-kiss?"

Queen Angela blushed, "Oh my, how adorable is that?"

Sora waved them off, "Ah, just ignore these jerks! It's a silly tradition anyway."

Donald shook his head, "Nah-uh, you two have got to do it."

Glimmer let out a loud gasp, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! That has to be the greatest tradition ever!"

Her mother smiled and rolled her eyes before sneaking a kiss on top of her head. "Well, I think it's a sweet little tradition, too."

Bow laughed out loud, "Ha ha ha! It looks like everyone is against you two. The two of you have got to kiss now!"

Goofy let out another one of his trademark laugh, "There you have it, now hold hands and pucker up."

Sora and Adora became even redder while having a hard time looking each other in the eyes. They soon found themselves holding hands and having to look each other straight on. Both taking a deep breath, they leaned in and their lips met for a few seconds as they kissed. They both pulled away feeling lightheaded.

Everyone clapped and cheered for them, but they just ignored them. The night soon carried on. The two weren't sure when, but Sora and Adora's hands soon found each other again and stayed that way for awhile. Everyone enjoyed the night, even though they knew that since Etheria was separated from the rest of the universe, there was no way Santa would be able to reach them and bring presents.

That's why everyone was astounded to find a mysterious batch of colorful presents, and all the cookies gone and the glass of milk empty. A little card sat next to the empty plate.

'Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Thank you three so much for bringing Christmas to this world! I've been waiting for the day when someone would set up their first Christmas Tree. Hope you all have a Happy New Year. -Nick'

* * *

A/N: Hope this last bit made things up a bit for the long wait!


	10. Chapter 10

" _Water! Water!_ " Torrents of water splashed all around the traveling group of six. Anytime Sora spotted a dry or withered part of the forests that defended Brightmoon, he would send his newly acquired water magic to fix it right up. Problem was that most of the time his friends were ultimately caught in the splash zone.

Bow shook the water from his hair, "Aw c'mon, again?! I don't know what's worse, Adora trying to show off whenever she could, or this!"

Glimmer was wringing the moisture from her cape. "This! This is way worse! At least Adora only stopped at just being annoying, this is just-GAH!" she slipped on a freshly made puddle of mud, pulling herself up, she felt up her bottom. When she pulled her hand away, she found a thick coating of mud. She craned her neck and saw mud all over her rear end. "GAAAAAAHH! Now this?! Dammit Sora! Do you know what my mom will do to me if I show up to the throne room looking like that I-I-I...Gah!"

Sora flinched, "Oops, sorry Glimmer. Want me to water you down? I can get it done in a jiffy!"

She covered herself, "What?! No! Enough with the water already!"

Donald waddled up and joined her, "Yeah, Sora, you can't keep acting irresponsibly like this."

Goofy nodded his head, "Yup, remember the time when you first learned fire magic? That was a disaster!"

~Flashback~

In Traverse Town a bashful looking Sora stood in front of a newspaper stand whilst on fire. The owner, Donald and Goofy were looking either angrily or disapprovingly at the newly chosen Keyblade warrior.

"Oopsies."

~End Flashback~

"Just the once!"

Donald pointed angrily at him, "Twice!"

~Flashback~

In Hollow Bastion after their year long sleep, Sora had relearned how to cast magic again, accidentally releasing it on a newspaper stand of the same owner as last time.

"Oopsie!"

~End Flashback~

"Okay fine, twice!"

Bow looked at Adora, "So are you just gonna comment on any of this? You've been surprisingly quiet."

Adora blinked, "Yeah, no. After how I was messing up before and, as you pointed out, my showboating, I've got no real place to say anything."

"Fair enough."

Donald looked a little nervous, "Wait, Adora is the same too?"

Glimmer crossed her arms to think about it, "Sometimes, not all the time. In fact, they sometimes trade roles on being the responsible one and being the reckless endangerment to us all."

"Oh bother, there's two of them now." Donald sighed while slouching, Sora mouthing and mocking him from behind.

Goofy thought creatively, "Cheer up, Don', that means that there's double the good qualities about Sora."

Adora scratched the back of her head before mumbling "I wish I was half as good as Sora."

"Okay, I think the point of this discussion is…" Bow pointed at Sora, "No more water! Now come on, we're almost at Brightmoon and I can't wait to tell Entrapta about what happened!"

"About what? The Salineas Water Runestone or having the other half of the ship?" Adora asked.

"Both!"

~Flashback~

About all their business was wrapped up in Salineas, everyone was saying their good-byes to Mermista, Sea Hawk and Samuel, but that's when it happened. The Runestone that sat above the throne began to glow, and so did the Mermaid Princess.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's happening?!" Mermista began to panic as she looked herself all over.

"The Salineas Runestone is glowing too!" Glimmer pointed out.

"Guys, this seriously does not feel right!" She then let out a squeal as she was magically being lifted off the ground. She didn't stop rising until she floated a few meters off the floor, both Sea Hawk and Adora each having a hold of her hand and trying to bring her down.

"What's going on?!" Donald shouted.

Both Princess Mermista and the Runestone glowed even more brightly until a blue, shining light emerged for the two and combined as one. The bright light floated for a moment before zooming around the room before stopping in front of Sora. He took several steps back, but the light shot at him and struck him in the chest. As suddenly as the whole ordeal started, it ended and Mermista fell down into Adora arms and the glowing ended.

Everyone carefully looked around.

"So, I don't know about you guys, but even for us that was kind of weird" Sora stated.

Bow scratched at his head, "Yeah, that was super weird for us too."

"So what do ya think happened?" Goofy asked.

Suddenly the Keyblade summoned itself and floated in front of Sora. He looked at it curiously before grabbing hold of it. The Keyblade surrounded itself with a light blue glow before he suddenly understood. "Wait, I think I've got it! _Water_!" Sora pointed the Keyblade out the window. Instantly an orb of water appeared and a torrential blast shot itself out the opening.

"New magic!" Sora jumped up and cheered.

Mermista was gently set down by Adora, "So wait, are you, like, saying that you can now use water magic like me?"

"So cool!" Sora and Bow cheered.

~End Flashback~

"Forward ho!" Sora yelled as he began pulling on the massive cart holding the broken remains of the Gummi Ship, Goofy by his side.

"And NO MORE WATER!" Glimmer yelled at him for assurance.

* * *

"Wow~" both Donald and Goofy gawked as they passed through Brightmoon Castle's entrance.

"Brightmoon sure is pretty, don't ya think Donald?" Goofy asked.

"It sure is, but it's still nothing compared to Disney Castle."

During their travel from Salineas, Sora had brought up how Brightmoon already knew about them being from other worlds, on the account of there being a witness to the whole crash landing. Donald wasn't at all too pleased and berated Sora nonetheless.

Glimmer reappeared with a new change of clothes before the six approached the throne where the Queen sat. Glimmer resisted the urge to run up to her mother and speak informally. "Queen Angella, we've returned from Salineas with a successful alliance. Mission complete." She bowed.

Her mother nodded, "Excellent news Commander. Now, full report in just a moment. First, I see we have a couple of extra guests" she looked at the unusual forms of Donald and Goofy.

Glimmer stepped aside, "We have also located Sora's missing friends."

The two walked forward and bowed respectfully.

"Greetings, Your Majesty, I'm Donald Duck, Court Wizard of Disney Castle."

"And I'm Goofy, Captain of the Royal Guards, Your Majesty. Glad to make your acquaintance."

Angella bowed her head in turn, "Greeting both of you. This pleasure is mine as well. Sora has spoken very highly of you two." If she had more to say about their different from normal appearance, she kept it to herself. Though she did recall a bit of Sora's description of the two.

"Now, Commander Glimmer, I'm sure all went well and we avoided any conflicts and confrontations as I've ordered."

Glimmer made a face as she sharply inhaled through her teeth. "Yeah, about that mom."

Queen Angella was quick to drop the formalities and spoke as a mother. "Glimmer! What did you do?!"

"Moooooom! It wasn't my fault! When we got there, we found Salineas completely deserted because the Sea Gate was falling apart and the Horde had been capitalizing on their weakened defenses! Then we found out that Adora and her sword could repair it, so we made a deal with Princess Mermista that if we fixed it, she'd join the Rebellion, but that's when the Horde attacked!"

"Did you all engage in combat or did you all wait behind the barrier where it was safe?!"

"We were on the other side fighting."

"After I specifically ordered you to stay out of any conflict?! After you told me that this was only a peaceful recruitment mission, nothing else?!"

"But moooooom! The controls to the Sea Gate were on the other side, and it wouldn't last through this battle! It was fight or lose Salineas all together!"

"And where was Princess Mermista in all this?! Why couldn't she be defending her own kingdom like how everyone else abandoned us to do?!"

"But moooooom!"

This back and forth went on for a little bit, Adora, Sora, Donald and Goofy looking a bit uncomfortable as it went on, but Bow and the rest of the royal court seemed to have accepted it as the norm.

"Is this normal?" Donald whispered, tugging at Sora's leg.

"I mean, I think so?"

Adora leaned in, "We've only seen this a couple of times, but we've barely been here."

"Ah, come now, Queen Angely is just worried about her daughter like any mother would. I know I'd be worried sick if this was me and Maxy" Goofy tried to defend her.

"But moooooom!" Donald shook his head.

"No buts, missy! You're grounded!"

* * *

While Glimmer had stormed off to her room, everyone else had gone to pay a visit to Princess Entrapta, who had yet to hear any news.

"Oh. My. GOD! You found the other half of the ship! Best day ever!" She ran forward and literally dived head first into the cart of Gummi pieces and started rolling around and cuddling with whatever she can bring into a hug.

"And she's gonna help us put together our ship?" asked a worried Donald.

Bow held his arms complacent arms, "Hey guys, I promise you, even though she's a bit eccentric she knows what she's doing. She is really one of the best minds around!"

"Ah shucks, I believe in her. So what if she's a little silly?" Goofy gestured to the three of them, "Look at how silly we are! Ah-hyuck!"

Donald didn't look one hundred percent convinced, "I think I'm gonna stick with her. I know a thing or two about fixing the Gummi Ship, and I don't want any funny business going on."

Entrapta poked her head out with an audible gasp, "Are you telling me that _you_ actually know about this amazing machinery?!" Donald nodded, "Are you sure about that?! Because Sora let me down terribly and I don't think I'm quite ready for that same heart-break." After another nod, if accompanied by a nervous look. "SENSATIONAL!" She ran up and pulled Donald up to her with her hair, "Excelsior! You will make a great lab assistant! Onward!"

"Uh-oh" Donald muttered to himself as he was carried away by the short Princess.

…

…

…

"Gwarsh, what amazing hair she had! Pretty, too!" Goofy couldn't help comment.

"So cool!" Sora agreed.

Adora shook her head, "I don't think she even knows either of your names yet?"

Bow laughed nervously to himself, "I don't think Entrapta is going to be especially bothered by that."

* * *

Bow had stuck around with Donald and Entrapta as they worked, and Adora returned to her room for a little rest. Sora and Goofy were left to their own device as they explored the castle. While walking down the hallway, they ended up running into Queen Angella. She seemed to be trying to vent some steam.

"Hiya there, Queen Angely" Goofy greeted.

"It's Angella actually" Sora corrected.

"What did I say?"

"Yes, yes, hello" she hastily greeted back. "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid I'm not really in the mood for pleasantries right now."

"Gwarsh, hang in there. I know it's tough to be a single parent. Just know that when they get older, they'll definitely learn to appreciate that we're just trying to look out for them. Ah geez, half the stories I have for you about my Maxy."

The Queen let out a tired breath, "Ah, you're a single parent too? They can be so trying indeed. Half the stories I can tell you about Glimmer, too" she countered back.

"Ah-hyuck! Do tell."

She shook her head, "No, no, I shouldn't. It's far too unbecoming of me, but her attitude. She's just-Grrr!" She started walking.

"Oh, I'll tell you this," Goofy followed her footsteps insync, "He was the sweetest little boy you'll ever see, but when he hit thirteen, he just became so rebellious out of nowhere! I didn't have the faintest clue of what to do."

"Really, Glimmer started acting out something awful after she turned ten!"

"Ya know, I hear that girls start growing up and maturing before boys do. What was the name of that book? I swear, if I didn't have this guide book, I'd have nightmares of how many would have turned out! I actually had his educator tell me that he'd get the electric chair after a wayward stunt he did for a girl he liked."

Sora was left all alone as the two single parents seemed to have found a friend in each other, leaving no room for him. "Yay, I'm all alone now." He blew at his hair. Looking out the window, he saw a particularly tall woman that stuck out. She was easily three heads taller than him with bright red skin, long red horns and pointy ears surrounded by wavy brown hair. She wore a simple plum tank top, a battle skirt, a cape, heeled leg strappings, and pauldrons similar to Glimmer and Bow's, "Hey, are you lonely and/or in need of a friend?!" he called out to her.

She looked startled at him before shying away and walking off.

"Hey wait, come back! I'm really lonely! NO WAIT! I mean YOU look really lonely and could use a friend! COME BACK!" Sora quickly scrambled out the window after her.

* * *

After his failed attempt at friendship with Agatha, he learnt her name from a guard, he vowed he would chase her down again and try once more. He ultimately gave up for the day and headed back to his shared room, but not before stopping by Glimmer's.

He opened the door and poked his head in, "Hey Glimm-"

"GET OUUUT!"

"Okay bye." Sora quickly shut the door. Getting over that nervous shutter, he turned back to his shared room. Though more hesitantly, he gently opened the door before poking his head in, "Hey Adora." He felt it safe to walk in as no one had yelled at him, he saw his friend focusing on her pushups. "Working out?"

"Yup, getting a little angsty and thought I'd work it off."

He bent down with a smug look on his face, "So, how many are you at?"

She stops for a moment and looks him hard in the eyes, knowing he's going at "79, but my record is four sets of fifty."

Sora smiled wider, "Ha! My record 500 in less than five minutes! Remember that hero trainor I told you guys about, Phil? Well, he gave me a minute for each set of a hundred, and I nailed it!"

"Oh-ho, ho ho, ho ho ho. You are asking for it, you're really asking for it, aren't you?!" She stood up straight with her arms crossed. Sora mirrored her.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about?" Sora shrugged with that smug look still there.

"Fine! You want me to spell it out? Let's go at it. You. Me. No mission to get in the way. You really know a girl up." She cracked her knuckles while getting in his face.

"Just waiting on you to change into something more comfortable."

"What a charmer, you."

* * *

"Like this, see? The Gummi pieces are all interchangeable, but that can sometimes make things harder too" Donald finished explaining while demonstrating attaching two Gummi pieces together.

"Oh. My God! This is amazing! I totally get it, sure it might make things harder to get one specific thing right, but it leaves an unprecedented amount of possibilities to explore! Practically an infinite number of combinations of what you can create! Assistant Bow, did you record all that?!"

Bow holding the camera up with an uncontrollable grin on his face gave a thumbs up. "You bet, and this is so amazing! I would never have thought of these weirdly soft but firm materials were capable of so much! It's not even metal!"

*BOOOOOOM* The ground shook.

"What was that?" Bow looked around nervously.

*BOOOOOOM* It happened again.

"Pretty sure that time was the distinct sound of a tree exploding."

"Why do you know what a tree sounds like when it explodes?" Bow asked Entrapta.

"I'm afraid of the answer to that" the wizard muttered to himself as he walked out of the ship. He continued muttering, "Gah, what's the big idea making all sorts of noise and shaking. How anyone can get any work done…"

Bow blinked, "Wow, I didn't understand a single thing he said now. Not even close. Did you?"

"Sounds like a bunch of quacking to me" Entrapta shrugged.

"WHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!" They heard his trademarked screaming. Following him out, they saw why, Sora and Adora, transformed into She-Ra, were rolling around on top of each other, doing all they can to wrestle the other down into submission. Donald was on them smacking his staff onto either their heads. "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! DON'T YOU SEE YOU'RE MAKING A MESS OF EVERYTHING?!"

She-Ra had rolled on top and took the advantage. She then lifted Sora up before smacking him into the ground, where he bounced twice before rolling on his feet. "Is that all you got?!"

"HARDLYYYYYYYY~" She rushed forward looking ready to pounce like a bird of prey, but Sora's arm shot out as he clotheslined her. As she fell on her back, one hand went to her throat instinctively while the wrapped itself around his calf and tried to bring him down. Sora resisted and kept himself steady, but using this to her advantage, she used him to roll backwards onto her feet before leaping on him. Brought down, She-Ra's legs were locked around Sora's neck and would not relent. No matter his attempts, he couldn't break free, even as he was trying to stand himself back up. She-Ra used her arms to grab onto his neck as well to throw him off balanced, but still he stood back up. She was pretty much now sitting on his shoulders, and that was when Sora decided to charge straight at a tree as smash into it She-Ra first.

The tree was smashed apart, and the two were still rolling around in their locked positions, but Donald had enough. Pointing his staff into the air, he casted " _THUNDERRRRRR_!" A bolt of lightning shot down on the two, zapping them and making them yelp. Their clothes now looked fried, but it did the job as the two separated and looked down at the wizard.

"Donald, what the heck was that for?!"

She-Ra looked down at her fingers as she flexed them, "Oh God, everything feels so weird and tingly!"

"What do you mean 'what was that for?!'" he gestured to the courtyard which was now a mess with the ruined lawn and several destroyed trees.

"Oopsie."

She-Ra scratched the side of her head, "Uh-oh, we did that?"

"Who else?!"

Her eye twitched, "We're in trouble."

* * *

In trouble they were indeed, and so at the Queen's command, the rest of the day was spent on cleaning up their mess. Chop the wood of the trees they destroyed into usable logs, replant the one tree that could still survive, level out all the soil, and sow seeds to grow replacements. To make the punishment complete, Goofy suggested to the Queen that the two should also make and set up tree guards for every tree for every courtyard. It would be hours past dinner time that Sora and Adora finished measuring, cutting, and setting down the guards, fortunately they had the spare wood for it.

Now the two were dragging their dirty, exhausted, and hungry selves through the hallways. They knew that going to the kitchen would have been futile, and they were too tired to clean themselves properly, so they headed straight to their room. They both collapsed onto their beds.

"Sora" Adora mumbled through her pillow.

"Yeah?" Sora answered the same.

"Next time I decide to kick your ass, remind me to do it in the forest outside the castle."

"Yeaaaaaah."

They both let out a simultaneous snore, both Donald and Goofy looking satisfied from their bunks before getting some shut eye as well.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, the two were still dirty and exhausted when they sat down at the dining table when a chipper Glimmer teleported in the empty seat next to Adora.

"Goooood morning~" the Princess greeted in a sing song voice.

"You're awfully in a good mood" she deadpanned back.

Sora played with his fork, "Especially after yesterday."

"What? Pfft, you guys noticed already?! Yup, doing pretty good, fantastic really. Yesterday evening before dinner, mom and I had a real heart to heart talk, and I'm feeling amazing. Also, not grounded anymore!"

Adora leaned back in her seat exhausted, not yet even able to muster up the energy to serve herself food. "Great to hear."

Glimmer got up from her seat and moved between the two before pulling them into a hug, "Actually, I think I've got you two to thank for that. I think she was so mad at you guys for ruining the courtyard, that she completely forgot how much she was with me, and the two of us moved forward from there!"

"Glad to help," Sora sighed.

"Thanks!" No one was sure if she knew he was being sarcastic, or decided to humor him to rub more salt into the wounds, "In fact, mom and I are going to have a tea party! We haven't had one together since I was eight, this is gonna be so fun!"

"A very happy unbirthday to you."

Both Adora and Glimmer looked at him oddly before they both "Huh?"

Sora barely got a finger up before dropping it, "Don't...have the energy...for fun" he muttered before his head dropped and hit the table. Unfortunately his forehead landed on the fork, "...ow."

Glimmer sighed before grabbing the back of his hair, pulled him back, yanked the fork out (ouch), and let go of him, "Stop being so overdramatic, the both of you. You guys got yourselves in trouble, your punishment is done with, get over it." She reached over and served them both some scrambled eggs, cooked meat, and juice. "There, your food and salvation are now just inches away. Dig in!" She then teleported back to her seat next to Bow.

Sora and Adora looked to each other before grabbing and clanking their glasses together, they then dug in. Twenty minutes into eating, most of the food on the table was gone and so was their bad mood. Sora was now looking at his plate, about to enjoy his after meal dessert of chocolate. Before he could pick one up though, familiar purple hair snaked its way between his legs and snatched three of his five pieces before disappearing back under the table.

Sora blinked at that before tapping Adora. She looked over in time to watch the process repeat itself. Reaching over to her plate, he took a couple of pieces before setting down onto his. This time as the hair reached up, Sora grabbed at it, "AH-HA!"

"GAAAHH!" was heard, accompanied by the table bouncing for a moment. Still holding onto the hair, the head that it was attached popped in between his legs still. "Hi there!"

"Uh, hi?" Sora turned a little pink, dense as he was, even he knew this to be a compromising position.

Princess Entrapta pulled herself completely up before sitting in his lap and stuffed her face with the rest of the chocolate.

"...so...what's up?"

"Oh boy, that was good." She wiped her chocolate covered lips on her sleeve. "So anyway, Sora, I've got news for you and Donald and Goofy about your ship. I came in to tell you, but then I sensed tiny pieces of dessert and I couldn't resist. So when you're done eating, you guys come by my workstation and I'll tell you more."

"And you had to crawl under the table to do this?" Adora asked, feeling a little embarrassed as well.

"Well duh! I'm not gonna crawl on top of the table. That'd just be rude." She then reached over and took Adora's candy before climbing back under the table. When they looked under immediately afterwards, she was already gone.

"You guys saw that, right?!" Sora called out.

Donald, Goofy, Glimmer and Bow just shrugged, all equally bewildered as he and Adora.

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy stood outside of the Gummi Ship's remains where the Genius Princess made her workstation. Entrapta stood tall on top of her desk. "Gentlemen, I have some good news, followed by some bad news, followed by some good news again...then some more bad news...again."

The trio looked at each other before nodding.

"Alright, first good news: with Donald's help I think I can totally get this ship flying again. First bad news is that we're missing some pieces." At their grimace, she quickly moved on, "The second good news is that I was able to use Bow's design on his First One's scanner and modified it to work on scanning for your ship's unique material, and I've already got a ping!...but the bad news is that I don't know how many we're missing yet. I don't know if my new scanner is picking up all the remaining pieces or not, I'll need to come up with a design to vastly widen the range so we can be sure. I mean you guys fell pretty far apart, so they can be anywhere between here to Salineas or the Kingdom of Snow, or even all the way to the Crimson Waste and the Fright Zone. There's no way of telling for now. Until I can think of a way to widen our range, we're stuck with what we've got. I'll keep on working on rebuilding with what I have, which is a lot admittingly, but it'd be foolish to try and take off into The Beyond without your ship fully assembled, down right suicidal!" As though to emphasize this, she had climbed on and planted her feet on Sora's chest while holding onto his hoodie and being nose to nose with him.

He blinked "Right...suicidal. Let's not do that."

Goofy went and picked up the scanner from her desk, "Alrighty, now that we got this here majiggy, it'll only be a matter of time we get everything up and running."

"So time to get to work?" Donald asked.

Sora picked the Princess up by the armpits and held her, "I guess so. I'll go up to the guards and ask them for the wagon again. Should we get Glimmer, Adora and Bow?"

"Ah shucks, let them get some rest in. They just helped save an entire kingdom from ultimately being conquered."

"Wah?! But we helped too!" Donald argued.

"But if ya think about it, we're the ones going from world to world and helpin people and such all the time. We're used to it" Goofy reasoned.

"Makes sense to me" Sora agreed while setting Entrapta down on her seat. "What about you, do you want to come on a mission with us? I'm sure we'll have lots of fun!"

And just like that, Princess Entrapta was back to grappling with Sora, "Are you kidding me?! I have two halves of an actual spaceship! There is NO way I can step away now! Too much for me to do!" She was literally drooling with excitement.

Being mindful of her dripping saliva, Sora placed be back down. "Got it, then let's at least let the Queen know we're leaving."

* * *

Once again, Sora departed from Castle Brightmoon, but this time with just Donald, Goofy, and a pair of familiar guards. Sora and Goofy pulled the cart with Donald riding along with the scanner, and the two guards Sora worked before with Bow walked beside them.

"So we work together again!" Sora happily started as they passed the gate. "You know, I actually feel really bad, I've never even asked you guys for your names."

The two looked at each other before shrugging. "Honestly, almost no one ever cares to even think about it, let alone ask a Brightmoon Guard. My name is Ali." The first guard took off her helmet, revealing a lightly freckled face, bright purple hair cut at chin length, and sea foam colored eyes.

The second guard took off her helmet, revealing much longer silvery hair tied into a bun and dark amethyst eyes. "I'm Carla, nice to meet you...again. Something along those lines."

"Well, Ali and Carla, sorry for the poor introduction from before, these two are my good friends Donald and Goofy."

"Nice to meet you."

"Hiya!"

Ali gave a short bow while Carla gave a small, quick wave.

"Great, now that we're all acquainted with each other, we can all be friends properly!" Sora looked behind him, "Friend Donald, which direction are we heading in?!"

Donald smiled before studying the scanner for a bit, "Looks like we're heading North-Northeast from here...umm...distance doesn't seem indicated very well...hmm."

"Uh-oh" Goofy gulped worriedly.

"North-Northeast...isn't that the direction of Dryl?" Sora looked to Ali and Carla.

"I believe so, yes sir" Ali confirmed.

"Sir?"

Carla explained "Well, you do work directly with Commander Glimmer, and you are a legendary warrior, so easily you could be seen the same as any of our superiors."

Sora went red at that and scratched his head, "What? Me, really? Wow, I mean, it kind of makes sense, but still doesn't seem right. I mean, everyone is usually telling me what to do and stuff. I've never really felt in charge before."

Donald reached over and bonked him on top of the head with his staff. "That's because you're not, I am. As King Mickey's Royal Court Wizard, almost all things he or the Queen isn't immediately able to attend is conferred onto me."

Sora let out a disappointed sigh, "Yup, sounds about right. For as long as I've known you, you've been bossing me around almost nonstop."

"That's because I know better than you!"

Ali and Carla looked to each then to the duck wizard. " _You're_ your kingdom's Court Wizard?" Carla asked.

"I sure am!"

They looked to Goofy next. "And you?" Ali asked.

Goofy pointed a thumb to himself, "Gee, well I'm the Captain of the Royal Guards!"

At that, the two guards instantly stood up straight and saluted, "Sir!" before they rushed over and pulled him away to take his place pulling the cart. "We can't have the Captain doing grunt work!" Ali exclaimed.

"If General Azuli were to find out, she'll have us working the horse stable for a month!" Carla cried as she settled between Sora and Ali.

"Wait?! How come no one rushed to take my place, me, a legendary warrior?!"

Donald bonked him again, "Work!"

And so the five made their way towards the direction of the Dryl Kingdom. Sora had come up with the plan that if they reach Dryl Castle before reaching the scanner's destination, that they should rest up and resupply there. He insisted that he and his friends befriended the staff and that they are aware of their Princess personally helping him, and that it shouldn't be a problem.

Ultimately that's what happened. The Kitchen Brigade was more than happy to greet them though.

"Sora, you're back!" Teela ran up and pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "We were honestly worried about you lot. With there being a spaceship and all at Brightmoon, we weren't sure what the Princess would have done!"

"Hey Teela" Sora squeaked as his lungs rubbed against his ribs. She placed him back down. "Hey Pascal, hey Cassy. Any more robot uprisings since we've left?"

"Nope, thank the makers!"

"Robot uprising?!" Donald, Goofy, Ali and Carla looked at each other.

Sora whispered loudly, "Yeah, nearly killed most of us, so don't ask. Also I'd stay away from the bots."

Pascal nervously rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, you've got nothing to be ashamed about. Honestly, we're still freaked out and are keeping clear from those machines as much as possible."

"I'm not scared!" Cassy declared, spinning a serving tray on her finger, "After what Bow showed us, I'm ready to take them on anytime!"

Pascal raised an eyebrow, "Is that why you rig up traps in front of our door every night before barricading it?"

"Hey shut up!" She bumped him with the flat of the tray.

Teela ignored her fellow workers. "So, Sora and friends, what brings you guys back here?"

Sora stood himself straight before explaining, "Well, Entrapta made a scanner for us to find some of the missing pieces of the our ship" He gestured to Donald and Goofy, "And it actually led us back here. It's still a bit away, we think, and we were hoping if we can maybe stay the night here? Maybe get a little extra food and water to help us on our way?" He added.

She gave him a heavy pat on the back, "After you and Bow saved our bacon and the castle?! This doesn't even begin to repay you! All of you make yourselves comfortable."

* * *

Bedtime quickly approached, and everyone was well fed and cleaned up. Also, as Sora's suggestion, they all stayed clear of the autonomous workers as they followed their programming.

On his way back from the washroom to his room, Sora ran into the casually dressed guards. They were hanging out in front of a familiar portrait of a kitty cat.

"C'mon, look at the _pussycat_ , I know you want to" Carla nudged at Ali, only to be rebuked.

"Stop that! Are you seriously doing this, here, while we're guests in another Princess's Castle?!"

"Oh come off it, the Princess isn't here and she doesn't have any officials, just the three servant. Just _three,_ now we're on the subject, how does that even work?" Carla asked.

"Obviously because she replaced most of the staff with the robots."

"Yeah, but still it's so weird how empty this place feels."

"Yeah."

"...C'mon, say that you love the _pussycat_ , that you just want to give it a big 'ol wet kiss!" Carla pushed again.

Ali was glowing at this point, "Carly, stop!" she shoved her, but that was when she saw Sora. "Ugh! Um, uhhhhhh-"

"Ali, what's wrong?" She turned to see the object of her distress and was quick to imitate.

An embarrassed Sora was quick to try to scoot past them, "Sorry! Don't mind me, just heading back to my room."

Carla moved away from the petrified Ali to block his way. "Please sir! Please don't tell our commanding officers about this! Fraternizing with a fellow guard is very frowned upon, and they'll reassign us away from each other if they find out. Please, this isn't a casual fling, we were both lovers before we enlisted together. Please don't let us be sent apart!" she bawled.

Ali snapped out of it before letting out a gurgle, she rushed and slapped her hand over her mouth, "Carla, why?! You're only making it worse!" she cried, looking horrified at him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sora held up his arms, "Stop panicking, look, I'm not going to say anything to anyone! Okay?! I'm not a military kind of guy, and I'm definitely not someone to stop anyone from being with the ones they love." He bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, "I was just surprised. I didn't imagine you guys in that kind of relationship and it hit me from left field is all...and I'm not used to flirting. I'm not really used to relationship stuff at all actually."

"So...you're not going to report us?" Ali asked.

"No! Of course not, especially if it means it will separate you two. You guys are my friends now!"

"We are...really? *Phew* Thank goodness then," Ali let go of a teary Carla.

"So it's over? We're not going to be sent apart?"

"Yeah, really" Sora confirmed. "So relax, would ya? We got a long day of walking tomorrow, and we can't have you guys up all night from worry." On that note, he let out a yawn and stretched. "And just like that, the excitement is over, and I'm ready for bed again."

Ali hooked an arm with Carla's, "Yeah, we'll head over to our quarters and hit the sack, too." Her partner nodded.

"Alrighty then. Good night, and don't start fooling around with any pussycats, remember, we're on a mission...umm, too soon?" he asked, seeing their deadpan expression. "Yup, too soon. So sorry, just pretend I didn't say any of that."

* * *

"I think there's a Gummi piece nearby!" Donald called out.

Princess Entrapta's castle was now a few hours behind them as they all traveled through a large, grassy field. The scanner had led them far away from the roads, making their travels all the more difficult.

"Okay guys, let's park the cart and spread out!" Sora was already off searching through the tall grass.

Most of the day was then spent searching through the large field, the nearby woods, and even the watery cliffs and the ocean they hung over. To their relief, espeically Ali and Carla, there were not giant incest robots trying to murder them all. Though the work was trying, exhausting, and not without injuries.

While searching the cliffs, part of the rock that Carla was searching near broke apart. She was trained well enough to escape falling into the water below, but her ankle was caught in a crack and a large stone crashed into her trapped leg. Fortunately for her, Donald's healing magic took care of her broken leg, but her armored legging was left unusable. She was left with just wearing her casual pants and one bare foot, leaving her unable to walk long distances.

By the time the Sun had set, they had found fourteen Gummi pieces. It was then too dark to continue searching. Although returning back to Dryl Castle, the scanner revealed that no pieces were left behind. Staying one more night at Entrapta's home, they returned the following morning...with a special care package.

"There we go, that's the last one!" Teela excitedly dusted her hands off after securing the last box in the back of the wagon.

"The Princess is gonna be so excited when she sees our little gift to her!" Pascal squealed.

Donald scratched the side of his head, "Little?" The wagon was filled with three times more tiny pastries and fizzy sodas then there were Gummi pieces, and those weren't small to begin with.

"Sorry we didn't have any spare shoes in your size" Cassy apologized to Carla, "It's just the three of us, plus the Princess, so we don't really have many options to begin with."

She looked down at her foot worryingly, "No, it's fine. Nothing we can do about it, I'll just have to be careful and watch my step is all."

"What?! Nonsense, you'll hop in the back of the cart!" Goofy insistent. "Can't have ya walking around like that."

Carla waved her hands, "Captain Goofy, I can't! It was one thing for me to sit in the wagon yesterday for a few hours, but this is a whole day's travel _and_ four times a heavier load."

Goofy laughed itoff, "Ah shucks, with me and Sora working together, it's not a problem carrying you too."

Ali stepped forward, "Captain Goofy, please, I'll be more than happy to take your place pulling alongside Sora! No need to trouble yourself" she tried."

Sora held his hands behind his head, "You guys need to stop trying so hard to impress us or be professional and stuff. We're all friends here, and we like helping each other out."

"'Sides" Goofy flexed arm, "Sora and I are real strong, so it ain't a problem for either of us. Heck, Ali, you can ride in the back too!"

In the end, they were able to convince Carla to ride along in the cart with Donald, but Ali insisted on pulling alongside them. Even with Ali's help, the weight load stopped them from reaching Brightmoon that day, and had to camp out along the road. Setting up a watch at the two guard's urging, they made it through the night no problem. They reached the castle before noon, and parked the cart in front of the Gummi Ship.

"Entrapta! Special delivery!" Goofy called out.

The Pig-tailed rushed out from inside to greet them. "Fantastic! You guys made it with more parts! This should help move things al-" she paused and started sniffing the air. She then ran over to the cart before letting out an excited shriek. "You brought back fizzy drinks and miniature pastries! How in the world?!"

"Your castle was along the way" Donald started explaining.

"And we met up with the Kitchen Brigade. They insisted we bring you their care package" Sora finished.

Entrapta let out another squeal before using her hair to quickly pick up and pull Sora, Donald and Goofy into a hug, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!" She immediately dropped them before diving head first to the wagon. She resurfaced with her face sucking down a bottle of soda.

Suddenly, Glimmer teleported behind the trio with Bow besides her. They both had their arms crossed and looked very displeased.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Sora waved from the ground before picking himself back up.

"What's up?" Bow started.

"You left us behind!" Glimmer pointed angrily at him.

"What the heck man?!" Bow threw his arms up in the air.

"How could you do that to us?! We're supposed to be in this together!"

Sora backed away with his hands up, Goofy came to his defense, "Ah shucks, sorry about that fellas, it was my idea. I figured that you guys would be tired from the other day saving Salineas, so we wanted to give ya a break."

"Besides, getting the Gummi Ship back together is our problem" Donald tried to add, but seemed to make things worse.

"Yeah, it's _your_ problem! And friends help other friends with their problems, so why weren't we there to help?!" Glimmer demanded.

"Uh-oh" the wizard muttered.

"Oh, think we're mad? Wait til Adora shows up. She was _so_ pissed when she found out you guys were gone, especially you Sora. We were afraid things were gonna start breaking!"

Sora pulled at his collar and gulped. That's when they all heard what sounded like a battlecry. Sora barely was able to turn his head around before She-Ra tackled him to the ground, before picking him back up and dragging him to the Whispering Woods. They were only able to hear his screams and trees being felled.

Ali and Carla, who were watching the entire thing unfold from the cart, slowly made their way out. "We're...gonna get this stuff to the kitchen."

"Bye guys!" Entrapta waved as she and the cart were being pulled away.

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Know it doesn't really follow any of the episodes, but I thought it would be fun exploring the world for a bit with Sora, and a lot of people seemed to enjoy the last one I made. I hope this does meet everyone's expectations in quality and length. Let me know if you guys liked these kinds of chapters, and I'll try to add one in between each She-Ra episode chapters. Now, without further ado...another special!

*~Valentine's Day~*

"I'm here!" a joyful Princess Perfuma declared as she walked up to Sora. "I got your message and got here as soon as I could. What's the emergency?"

"It's Valentine's Day and no one knows or cares!" Sora shouted, his hands on her shoulders. "Not only that, there aren't nearly enough flowers!"

She blinked at him, "Valen-what now?"

Sora gasped, "Not you too?! How come no one's ever heard of Valentine's Day?!" He fell at her feet and wept, "It's supposed to be the most romantic time of the year where everyone is supposed to show their love to each other!"

Princess Perfuma let out a gasp as well before joining Sora on the floor and hugged him, "Flowers? Romance? Showing one's love to all?! Sora, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! This needs immediate rectifying!" She pulled him up and firmly held his shoulders, "You have my vow, whatever you need for Valentine's Day, both I and all of Plumeria will fully support you!"

Tears poked out from the corner of his eyes, "Thank you, I knew you would understand." He then pulled her into a hug. "I thought both Donald and Goofy would have my backs on this, but Donald couldn't care less and Goofy flat out broke down. I didn't know what else to do!"

Perfuma smiled and patted him gently on the back, "There, there, I'm here now. So what can we do to get this going?"

Sora pulled himself back together, "Okay, first off, we need roses. Lots and lots of roses. We're talking about red, pink, white, maybe some yellows. Gonna backtracking a little with how much roses we need, we're putting a bundle of roses every few feet. You look at it and think to yourself 'that should be enough,' you go on ahead and triple it! We need heart decorations everywhere too." As he led the Princess through the courtyard and into the Brightmoon Castle itself, she was making said roses appear everywhere, even conjuring trees of needed color and making them heart shaped. She was also making flower tiaras appear on everyone's head. "We also need banners as well, but it's so last minute, I don't have any idea where I can get the materials!" Perfuma started pointing at the top of doorways and empty wall spaces where vines started to appear and grew colorful roses, making it a point for white roses to appear and spell 'Love' or 'Valentine's Day.'

The Princess turned him around, "How's this?"

Sora blinked for a moment, "AAAHHH! It's perfect! Yes, yes, more of this!"

Perfuma didn't look very satisfied, "But surely there's more to do than just this!"

"First off, don't call me Shirly, second, yes we can!" Sora punch a fist into an open palm, "The next thing that's just as important to show someone your love is chocolate!"

The Princess hopped up and down, giggling like a madwoman, "Yes, yes! We Plumerian are some of THE best chocolate makers in all of Etheria! Not to brag, but I'm told that my personal chocolates are called divine!"

Sora wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her in, and pointed forward, "Onwards, to the kitchen!...The two of us have got a lot of cooking to do."

She pulled herself away. "No, no. First we need to get down to the camps below. We have a lot of Plumerians down there, and we need to get the word to them!"

"Then let's go!"

* * *

Perfuma looked back at Sora for confirmation, to which he nodded. She then stepped forward and threw an arm out, "Now, my people, GO, GO, GO!"

And as though the floodgates were opened, Plumerians and Satyres all charged forward with zeal unseen before. Everyone carried a tool of some sort, be it from hedge clippers, to hoes, to even metal watering cans, but most importantly of all, they carried true determination and grit. All the rebels and guards looked startled and scared, and actually prepared themselves for a real fight with their supposed allies, but as they drew near, they quickly slowed down before gently stepping forward and gave soft hugs accompanied by a kiss on the cheek.

"Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day!"

"Happy Valentine's Day."

These were the words they all spoked before moving on to someone else.

Over in the gardens, the Plumerians charged through the fields, but stopped at empty spaces to plants a small sapling or to trim trees and bushes into heart shapes. Soon, anywhere that grew any plants or trees were soon decorated for Valentine's Day.

Into the kitchens of the castle and people's homes, the Plumerians charged into, only to stop and say "Happy Valentine's Day" accompanied by being gifted with heart shaped chocolates. They then asked everyone politely for permission to use their cooking area to make more festive treats, along with the promise to clean up properly and use their own ingredients. No one had said no to them.

Soon, everywhere one looked, there were flowers, banners, sweet aromas, and treats being passed around. Valentine's Day was successfully spreaded around. Sora and Perfuma looked around, satisfied with their work.

"Sora! This. Is. Amazing!" she cheered. "I never thought that peace and love could spread like this outside of my kingdom, but here is proof otherwise!"

"I bet, but did you see the looks on all of your people's face?! If they can do that when it comes to facing the Horde and saving innocent townsfolk, the Rebellion would really be unstoppable."

The Princess nudged him in the side, "Easy there, Buster. Baby steps at a time for them. Sure, I was able to adjust for you guys, but they still need time. Still though, hopefully soon we'd be done with the Horde and we can enjoy our blissful relationship with Mother Nature."

Sora nodded, "Yeah. Hope we can put a stop to them soon, too." He then kicked at a loose rock, "Still, it's too bad that none of our friends wanted to have any part in Valentine's Day. I think trying to set everything up is more fun than the actual celebration itself."

"Oh my gosh, so much fun! I think I might have gotten to eat five pounds of chocolate all by myself, no joke!"

He slouched forward just the thought of it. "Oh, so much chocolate. And you were so right! Your cooking might have been the best chocolate I've ever had!" He then reached into his pocket and pulled out more chocolate pieces before putting one in his mouth.

"Hey, you still have more of those? Give me one." She reached to take one, but Sora pulled it away from her reach.

"What?! No way! I hardly got to eat any 'cause you kept hogging them to yourself!"

"That's because I was the one doing most of the cooking, now give me one!" She reached again for the chocolate, but he pulled away again.

"Hey, come on! You need to learn to share!"

"I am the apex of sharing, love and peace, you cannot tell me to learn to share, now gimme!"

"No!"

"I SAID GIMME THE CHOCOLATE!" She then flat out tackled him to the ground and managed to wrestle away the few chocolate pieces he had left. "Haha, mine!" She stuck one in her mouth.

Sora's eyes became wet as he saw there were only two pieces left. "But, but, but I hardly had any. It was so good and I hardly tasted them." His eyes nearly bulged out as Perfuma's lips smacked on another piece.

The Princess looked down at his down-crested form before she realized how selfish she just was. She then held up the last piece to his mouth. He looked up at her with his wet, blue eyes and she nodded at him. He happily took a bite out of her hand and enjoyed the candy. "Sorry about that, I rarely cook in the kitchen because I tend to get a little out of control. How about as an apology, I make you a big basket of chocolate just for? I'll make two, so just in case if I lose control, there would be a backup."

"Really?! That'd be amazing!"

She nodded before helping him stand back up. She then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day." She then paused and giggled as she pointed at his pink face.

Sora covered his eyes embarrassingly, "Wha-what?! You can't do that, then suddenly laugh at me!"

Princess Perfuma still continued laughing, "No, not that. I gave you a chocolate kiss mark on your cheek!" She licked her thumb before cleaning it off him.

Sora shyly scratched the back of his head. "Thanks. Happy Valentine's Day."

Off in the distance, Ali and Carla watched the whole thing go down. Carla cooed at the sight, "Aww, that was so cute! I totally ship them!"

"I thought you were shipping Sora and Adora. What did you call it again?"

"Sadora."

"Yeah, that's it. So you gave up on that?"

Carla shook her head, "No way, they're too cute together too!"

"But I thought you just shipped Sora and Perfuma. Ship, shipped, shipping? Whatever" Ali gave up on it.

"Well, I'm shipping both of them!"

"Whatever, I gave up already on all that."

"Hey?" Carla bumped her shoulder with Ali's.

"Yeah?"

"Happy Valentine's Day."

Ali blushed. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Somewhere in the castle, Donald was grumbling to himself. "Ah phooey, Valentine's Day is a stupid holiday!"

~Fin~


	11. Chapter 11

"Fire! So much fire! Why was there so much fire?! Water didn't help! Why didn't the water help?! Water is supposed to make bad fire go away, but it didn't! It only made things worse!"

Suddenly Bow's soot covered body was tossed up over a rocky ledge.

"How did the fire even start to begin with?! We weren't near anything flammable! It doesn't make any sense, none of it made any sense! I need someone to explain this to me!"

Glimmer's soot covered body followed and landed on top of Bow's.

"'Oh, look at me, I'm a Horde Soldier, and I'm gonna drive on in with my tank and ruin everyone's day!' I'm glad I got him in the nads!"

Donald and Goofy were thrown on top of the ledge, both coughing up smoke. She-Ra pulled herself up before reaching down and brought Sora up as well, the two of them covered in soot and scorch marks. They soon collapsed like everyone else.

Sora let out a long cough, trails of wispy smoke exiting his lungs accompanied. "Adora, we all caught on fire."

She-Ra sighed miserably, "I know, I was there." She, too, let out a smoky cough.

"This sucks."

"Super sucks."

"I think we need a vacation."

"What is that, some kind of food?"

"Ohh" Sora reached over and patted her cheek without having to look, "Sweet, sweet, poor and ignorant Adora. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

The events leading to this point began yesterday evening when Princess Entrapta further tweaked with the newly dubbed Gummi Scanner and detected more missing pieces southeast near Horde territory. This time, the venture was made the following morning with Sora, Donald, Goofy, Glimmer, Bow, and Adora, not wanting to create a repeat of their last retrieval mission. As it turned out, the Gummi pieces landed rather close to an abandoned marble quarry. Unfortunately, or fortunately from a certain point of few, an advance Horde team was sent to try and make the area into a forward operating base to try and open a new war front. And there were tanks, lots and lots of tanks. The battle ended in a hard earned victory, but sometime during the fight, the quarry, made mostly of stones, _caught fire_ after a tank firing, and caused complete chaos for both sides.

Now, after driving the Horde forces back, Sora and She-Ra had to pull all of their friends out of the burning quarry. Everyone was battered and hurt, but they knew that they'd make it through and fight another day soon...but not until after a much needed and deserved break.

* * *

"I think I see Mystacor!" Sora pointed over the cliff.

Adora and Goofy squinted, "Where? I don't see it."

"Wait, I think I see it! Is it behind that there birdie?"

"No Goofy, Mystacor is _disguised_ as the bird. At least that's what I'd do to hide an invisible city."

"Oooohhh" They both awwed.

Glimmer and Donald both shook their heads while Bow tried to contain his laughter. "Come on, serious? We'd be there by now if we'd stop playing around like this."

"Sorry" they all said.

"Now let's move it. We just need to get to the top of this ridge, and we'll practically be there!" Everyone started following the Princess.

"I'll follow in just a sec, gotta take care of something." Sora turned towards the cliff and stepped closer.

"What's up Sora?" Adora waited.

"Ahh, it's nothing. Just wanna take a quick pee is all."

An eyebrow was raised, "Huh?! Over the cliff?!"

"Yeah! It's gonna be so awesome, and I really need to take a whiz."

"I don't get what's so special about peeing off a cliff?" Adora seriously questioned.

"W-what?! It was right there in your words, 'peeing of a cliff' so cool!"

"If you think so."

"Not just me! Bow! BOW!"

"What?!" the archer called back.

"I'm peeing off the cliff!"

"You are?!"

"Yeah!"

Bow quickly rushed over, "Dude! Why didn't I think of that?!"

Adora gaped at him, "You too?!"

Glimmer came back with Donald and Goofy, "Guys, what did I just finish saying not a whole minute ago?!"

Adora pointed at the two guys now relieving themselves, "They are _peeing_ off the cliff!"

"Ugh! Why are boys so gross and stupid?"

Goofy tapped at his chin, "Drat, I don't think I can go quite yet?"

Donald crossed his arms and shook his head at everyone, "So immature."

"Ahhh man, this is so amazing" Bow sighed in relief.

"Right?"

Adora turned to the Princess, "So is peeing off a cliff really that amazing?"

"No! It's just a dumb guy thing!"

She looked back and squinted at them, "I wanna try that."

"Adora no! You're a girl, first off you literally can't do that, second, you shouldn't! They shouldn't even be doing this either!"

Sora and Bow straighten themselves up before facing each other and high fived. "Best pee ever!"

"Yeah it was!"

Adora's eyes narrowed again in determination, "I am gonna do that before this vacation is over, I swear."

Glimmer held her face, "Oh Adora. Just...come on, please."

Climbing the mountain further, they finally made it to it's apex. "Finally, we're here!" Glimmer announced. They looked over more cliffs, but on this side were puffy clouds below them. "Beach and spa, here we come!" She and Bow linked arms and jumped.

Sore ran after them, "Whoa! Did they just seriously jump off a cliff?"

Adora looked nervously down, "Are we just supposed to follow them? I don't even know what to expect, are we landing on soft clouds, a hard surface, a portal?!"

Donald stood at the edge, "Umm, uhh, I don't know what to expect either. I'm not really sensing any magic, but there's easily magic just for that."

"Are we supposed to hold hands or link arms like they did?" Goofy asked. He then proceeded to pick up the wizard who struggled for a moment.

Sora walked away from the edge and retreated more inland.

"Glimmer, Bow! Can you hear us?!" Adora called down, there was no answer.

Donald shrugged, "I guess we just follow?"

"I say we-JUMP!" Sora shouted before grabbing Adora and Goofy and tackling them completely off the ground and into the spot Glimmer and Bow disappeared into. The four rolled in a painful huff.

Adora whipped her head up, "Did you guys see that?!"

Donald stood up straight before dusting himself off, "I sure did, if you mean me pummeling Sora! WHAHAHAHAHAA!" In an instant, he was on Sora smacking him repeatedly with his staff, and Sora rolled them around before degrading into an all out brawl. Goofy was quick to jump after them into the white dust ball.

"Hey Adora, are you okay?" Bow asked with a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, you actually look pretty rattled. Was it the fall?"

Adora was searching behind for the strange shadow she saw. "Yeah. Yeah, it's probably just a trick of the eye."

" _We all_ have been under a lot of stress lately" Bow reasoned.

Glimmer started laughing it off, "And with what Sora just pulled, it could have been anything as everything blurred with him."

Bow looked back at the dust cloud, "Speaking of which…"

Adora's eyes widened like dinner plates, "Oh! Oh! I wanna break them up!" She pulled out her sword and called out " _For the Honor of Grayskull_!" In an explosion of colors, She-Ra was on top of them, holding up Sora in one arm, and a still furiously swiping Donald in the other.

"WHAHAHAHA! LET ME AT HIM, LET ME AT HIM!"

"Come on Donald, it was supposed to be fun!"

"LET ME AT THE BIG PALOOKA!"

Goofy picked himself off the ground before cracking his neck. He then took Donald out of her arm, "I got this one."

She-Ra smirked at Sora, "Just you, me-" she then started poking his already blackened eye, "and your shiner."

Sora smacked her hand away, "Yeah, yeah, just put me down already!"

* * *

"Just so you know, my Aunt Castaspella can be a lot to deal with. Again, she's the one in charge of all of Mystacor, but don't worry, I know how to handle her. Just engage her at the minimum."

"Glimmer?! Is that _my_ Glimmer?!" A taller woman in a purple dress and cape came running up to them with wide open arms. She had dark black hair that was kept in a bun at the top, and two thick strands spilling over her shoulders. She also had a bright yellow ring that floated around her head with a star in front.

Glimmer giggled nervously, "Hi Aunt Casta." Immediately she was off her feet as her aunt picked her up and squeezed her with all her strength.

"It's been so long since you've come to visit me! Oh how I've missed you...and Bow!" She turned and gave him a strong side squeeze. "And who are these?! Sweet Glimmer, you've made more friends! Oh how proud I am of you!" She went back for another hug with Glimmer.

"Aunty!" She managed to squeak out before being set back down. Taking a needed breath, she introduced, "These are my friends Adora, Sora, Donald, and Goofy." She stood behind the former Horde Soldier and pushed forward. "A quick few things to know, she can sometimes turn into the legendary eight-foot tall warrior named She-Ra." She pushed Sora next, "He's the chosen hero of a legendary weapon called a Keyblade." Donald was next, "He's the Royal Court Wizard of the Kingdom he hails from." Last was Goofy, "And he's also their Captain of the Royal Guards. Yup, okay, we're all caught up!"

Castaspella put a hand to her cheek, "Ah, you four have no idea how happy I am to see my precious niece finally start making friends. We were all so pleased and relieved when she started bringing Bow around, I was actually sure at first he was another made up friend of hers. Oh Glimmer, remember Misses Meowsry? She was Glimmer's favorite go-to friend that she made up for everyone!" She started crackling up. "Oh get over here! Don't think you all get away without a hug!" She pulled Sora and Adora in for a squeeze before going over to Donald and Goofy. If she had anything to say about Adora being She-Ra or Sora's Keyblade, it went unsaid. Anything about Donald and Goofy's appearance also went unmentioned, though for some reason it felt was the matter of her really noticing. "Oh! Glimmer, you've done something to your hair, right?!" That now seemed like a real possibility.

"Oh yeah, I've cut it. Do you like it?"

She inspected her for a moment, "You did it yourself?"

"Yeah."

She grimaced heavily, "Eww, er OOOHHH! I just love it, love it, love it!" She rushed over to her again a planted several kisses on her face. "Wait! You're not wearing the sweater I knitted for you?! Didn't you like it?"

Glimmer quickly looked down at herself and flinched. "Sure, of course I liked it. It's great! Just, you know, a little warm to be running around with a sweater right now." Her aunt's hands were squeezing her cheeks.

"But you'd tell me if you didn't like it, right?!"

"Yes, yes of course I'd tell you. Or not since they're always great!"

"Oh thank goodness." She turned away from everyone and did a small fist pump. She had successfully got away from the discussion on the haircut.

"Just so you know, I'm wearing the socks you sent me!" Bow chimed in with a wave.

She pointed a thumb towards him, "Always been fond of this one. So what brings all of you to my humble abode? Is it finally that blue moon already?!" She started crackling up again.

"Aw man, I want an aunt! She's so cool and funny!" Sora laughed after her.

Glimmer shoved him aside, "Actually aunty, I've been doing some important work lately! I've been rebuilding the Princess Alliance with my friends and we've been all over the map on diplomatic missions and-"

"Oh! All that work?! You all must be starved and tired!" Sora, Goofy and Bow nodded at that. "I'll have a feast for everyone prepared right away then! I'm sure your mother hasn't been feeding you properly. Just you wait, I'll stuff you all up like turkeys!" The earlier mentioned cheered and high fived each other at that.

Glimmer let out an exhausted sigh, "Actually yeah, we've all been a bit beat lately and thought we could get some R&R for a bit."

"Yay! Any excuse to spend more time with my favorite niece I will take!"

"Aunt Casta, I'm your only niece."

"All the more reason!"

Then despite Glimmer's best attempts to avert it, her aunt managed to rope them in for a tour. They now stood inside the Ceremony Chambers filled with crystals everywhere. Adora, Sora, Donald and Goofy looked in awe of everything.

"And these are the Lunar Lenses. We use them in a monthly ceremony to revitalize Mystacor's magical defenses, keeping us shielded from the outside world" Castaspella spoke sagely.

"Keeping yourselves shielded from the outside world? Why would you want to keep Mystacor closed off from everyone?" Sora asked.

"It's isolationism like that that's caused countries and kingdoms to become xenophobic of each other" Donald commented wised.

"Ohh!" Castaspella clapped her hands together excitedly, "A pair of real thinkers! My niece sure knows how to pick 'em! I know we may seem like an isolated kingdom, but we do definitely encourage our up and coming to leave and explore Etheria, invite friends, and even try to strengthen relations with other kingdoms in ways of performing services or taking official positions." Her face then held a look of discomfort, "Unfortunately we've had problems in the past, to be more precise, problems within. I'd rather not go down talking about that dark path, ruin the wonderful pleasantries we have now that my sweet, sweet Glimmer's come to visit her favorite aunt!" She then seemed to literally jump with an idea, "Oh! You should all come to the Rejuvenation Ceremony tonight! Oh, it will be so much fun, and afterwards there will be music and dancing, and not to mention the wonderful pastries afterwards!"

Glimmer came and took her auntie's hand, "Aunt Casta, Bow and I have seen the ceremony dozens of times, and we're _really_ beat from all the official work we've been doing. I was thinking maybe we'll skip it this time?"

Castaspella looked at her silently for a moment before blowing a raspberry, "What?! Nonsense, you're new friends haven't seen it! They all look so inquisitive, especially with Court Wizard Donald here, I'm sure he'd definitely appreciate such an event!" She had picked up said wizard without consent and held him. "Err, I'm sorry, I don't think I quite got your full name?"

He had yelped from being picked up so suddenly, and looked like he wanted to yell something, but managed to hold himself back. "Donald Duck."

She had turned him around to face him directly before she started cracking up, "Oh my, Donald Duck?! How fun and delightful is that?! I. Just. Love it! How about you, Royal Guard Captain?""

Sora noticed in the corner of his eyes Adora looking scared and jumping. She suddenly turned around and looked as though she was trying to chase something down. He was quick on her heels.

"My full name is actually Goofimilius Goof, but everyone just calls me Goofy, ah-hyuck! Ya see, I was actually named after my great-great-uh, hey Sora, where're you goin'?" He caught sight of Sora just as he disappeared into a hallway.

"Hey Adora!" Sora caught up to her quickly when she stopped to look around in a hall filled with statues, "What's wrong? You look spooked."

"I-I don't know? I thought I saw something."

"You okay?" he asked, but didn't get a response as she absently looked around. "Adora?!"

"Ah yes, this is the Hall of Sorcerers!" Castaspella walked in with the others. "You eager nillies just couldn't wait. Ahahaha, I love it!" She then led them all on her tour, not noticing Adora's distress. "These are all the Great Ones who led Mystacor throughout the ages. One day, a statue of myself will be placed in these halls, right next to this one." She stopped in front of a man with a staff, and placed a gentle hand on Glimmer's shoulder. "This is Micah, our previous leader, my brother...and Glimmer's father."

"Awwww" Donald looked down sadly.

"Shucks" Goofy crossed his arms.

Sora silently kicked at the ground while Adora looked very uncomfortable.

Bow placed a hand on Glimmer's other shoulder before she shook both hands off of her. She looked determinedly at her aunt. "I promise not just you, but everyone affected by it, that I'm going to avenge his death and make sure the Horde never hurts anyone else. Mom believes in us, and in those two." She pointed at Sora and Adora.

She then spoke with a childish attitude, "Well, if your mother believes in you, then why shouldn't I? I mean, she is a literal angelic being after all, and I'm just a common sorceress, leader of nobody spellcasters."

Glimmer covered her face, "Ugh, please, not this again!"

Castaspella started to walk away, making them all follow her again. "She never writes, you know! I mean, I am her sister-in-law, do everything I can to support her and my niece, and I write to her all the time. Does she ever write back, no! I mean, come on!"

Adora stopped and looked at a particular statue. It was that of a cloaked woman wearing a veil over her face. The thing that made it so noticeable was its state of neglect and all the scorch marks left all over it, as though plenty have used her for target practice. "Who's she?"

Sora stepped back and looked. "The pedestal says Lightspinner. She must have done something really bad to deserve all that."

"Indeed she did." Castaspella returned. "One of the...blemishes that I mentioned early about why we remain hidden. She sought power and complete control about all else, and she was cast out for it. She tried to go to terrible extremes to reach her goals, and even though she is long gone from our kingdom, they say her shadows still haunt our very corridors." She let out a sigh, "If she still lives, she no doubt, still plans her revenge and is still trying to seek what she has lost...Anyway, on with the tour! Who's hungry?!"

Everyone but Adora moved on. For some reason, she was transfixed on the statue of Lightspinner. There was something terribly familiar about her, and it caused a terrible pit to form in her stomach. Her eyes shrunk as the shadow the statue cast seemed to grow and looked like it was about to attack her. She let out a shriek before her friends came back for her.

"We finally lost Aunt Casta now that she's going to prepare a huge feast for us, so it now means it's beach time!" Glimmer came in yelling, everyone else right behind her.

Everyone paused to look at her and her fearful stance.

"Are you okay?" Bow asked her.

"It sure looks like you saw a ghost" Goofy added.

Adora kept glancing to where the shadow had extended to. Sora, Donald and Glimmer faced where she kept looking to, Sora and Donald scratching at their heads.

"You're in worse shape than I thought." Glimmer faced her friend. "We need to get you some warm sand and calming waves stat." She and Bow grabbed an arm before ushering Adora to the direction of the beach.

Sora, Donald, Goofy remained behind, the Keyblade Wielder turned to the others, "So wait, something doesn't seem right...right?"

Donald took another look around, "Something smells fishy around here."

Goofy put his hands on his hips, "And I'm pretty sure it isn't the beach."

"We need to keep an eye out for anything suspicious" Donald warned them.

"You think it has anything to do with Adora?" Sora asked.

Donald scratched his head, "She does seem awfully jumpy, maybe?"

Goofy let out a gasp, "What if it's that there Lightspinner, tryin' to get her revenge?!"

Sora jumped at that, "Should we tell Casta?"

Donald shook his head, "We haven't seen anything yet, so we shouldn't get everyone worried. Like I said, just keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"And keep an eye on Adora too!" Sora added.

"Good idea" Goofy agreed, "Donald and I will keep an eye out."

Sora and Donald nodded, "Yeah...hey! What about me?!"

Donald made an 'x' with his arms, "No way! You're in the backseat for this one!"

"What?! Why?!"

"Look where we are?! You're gonna be asleep and useless while we're here!"

"What?! No way!"

"Yes way! Just you watch, we're gonna catch you out of it left and right, except you can't watch cause you'll be asleep!"

Sora crossed his arms and stuck his nose up in indignation, "Hmph, fine! How about this then, everytime you guys catch me asleep when I'm not supposed to, I'll...umm...I'll carry you guys for an hour when we're traveling. Half an hour each!" He held a hand out to shake on it.

Donald rubbed his hands together and laughed, "Deal!" He reached out to shake, but Sora pulled back.

"But everytime I'm caught while keeping an eye out, you have to cast any three spells I ask for, anytime I want it! Also, how about one for one? If I'm caught asleep, it cancels one of my vigilance, and vice versa. How about it?" He stuck his hand out again.

Donald tapped his bill in thought before coming to a conclusion. "You're on!" He grabbed his hand and shook on it. "Goofy, you're witness to this!"

"Ah-hyuck! Nothing bad comes out of it for me, so why not?! To the beach!"

"To the beach!" Sora and Donald cheered before Sora's eyes shrunk. "Wait, b-b-b-beach? Uh-oh."

Donald rubbed his hands and laughed to himself.

"Wait, wait, hold on! We're supposed to be relaxing on the beach, and the deal was for when I'm caught asleep when I'm not supposed to. Meaning I can while we're on the sand!"

Donald just laughed to himself as he left to follow Glimmer, Bow and Adora, Goofy on his heels.

"Guys?! Guys!" he called and chased after them.

* * *

"Whoa! ~We're at the bee-ach~We're gonna have fu-un~We're gonna pla-ay~Then lay in the su-un~" Sora sang happily while stretching his arms and taking in the salty wind. He currently stood wearing only his crowned necklace and red swim trunks with his signature black crowns all over.

"Wow, you are really happy to be at the beach" Bow commented as he unfurled his beach towel and set down his bag. He was now sitting in a half yellow, half white swim trunks.

"This is, like, the happiest I've ever seen you, and that's really saying something" Glimmer added. She wore a lavender one piece swimsuit with a transparent, pink swim skirt. She also wore a lavender, wide brim hat that had a pink sash wrapped around.

"Oh yeah, I'm an islander! This is the kind of place I grew up my whole life. Me being at the beach is like a fish being in the water, it's the natural order of things!" He then let himself fall back into the sand and started making sand angels. "What should we do first?"

"We take a moment and relax." Donald stabbed a beach umbrella into the sand and set up his fold out chair before sitting down. Though normally without any sort of clothing for his bottom half (Let's not think about that too much), he now sported blue swim trunks with white trimmings. He let out a sigh as he leaned back.

Goofy threw his beach towel down and set down a large basket filled with snacks and drinks for everyone. "That's no fun! I say we build the biggest sand castle we can!" He wore green swim trunks with a large, black pocket on each side.

"This is Adora's first vacation, let's have her take the first pick!" Bow suggested.

"Well alrighty! Adora, what's first?" He looked around for her for a moment. "Adora?"

"Over here" she said quietly, poking her head from behind a large rock nearby. Everyone but Glimmer turned their heads to look at her oddly.

"You good, Adora?" Bow called out.

"And whatcha ya hiding for?" Goofy asked.

"I, um, well you see-"

"Adora, stop hiding already!" Glimmer ordered without looking. "You look great, so stop worrying!"

"Why am I wearing this?! I was uncomfortable looking at you wearing that, and I thought you were being daring or whatever, then you hand me this?!" she complained loudly, still not stepping forward.

"You're wearing that because you're rocking one of the best bodies I've ever seen. I already wish I could pull it off, so stop complaining!"

"I'm not complaining! I'm just questioning your decision making in an angry tone is all!"

Glimmer finally looked over at her, "Hey, guess what? They have a word for that, it's called complaining! Now get out here!"

"No! There is no way I'm taking another step forward in this!" Adora's head vanished behind the rock.

Glimmer rolled her eyes and sighed before she disappeared and reappeared with the shy girl in tow. Adora let out a loud yelp as she tried to cover as much of herself as possible with her arms and hands. As far as swimsuits go, what Adora wore was far from what most people would call scandalous or skimpy. It was bright red with an off center white stripe on her left side, and while it was a two piece outfit, it did well to not show off too much. Though it did show off the outlines of her muscles just poking through her skin.

Sora whistled, "Lookin good Adora! But I gotta say, why you're embarrassed of that is beyond me. Trust me when I say this, I've seen so much worse...or better? Either way, nice~" He laid back down on the sand.

Adora turned almost as red as her outfit before she tried to make it back to her rock, but Glimmer pulled her back. "Calm down, see, you look fine. So stop worrying already. Relax and enjoy yourself."

"Easy for you guys to say! I'm not used to any of this, I feel like I'm practically running around naked!"

Donald shook his head before picking up a book he was lent, "Yeah, sure, yell that louder for someone to hear without context."

Adora turned and snatched one of the beach towels before wrapping it around herself. "Seriously, this is just as revealing as my underwear!"

Glimmer flicked her on the shoulder, "Adora, first of all, don't compare this to underwear. Second, look around, hardly anyone is paying attention to you or the rest of us for that matter." She gestured to another group of beach goers not too far from them. Adora immediately focused on the two girls there, one especially.

"Holy! Look at how much of her b-bo-boo, geez! It's practically all spilling out! Are you seriously telling me that is _not_ underwear?!"

"Yes, that is a less modest swimsuit she's wearing, but still perfectly acceptable and worn by plenty. Also what did I just say about calling them underwear?"

Adora squinted as she looked at her more, "Geez, look how much it's riding up her butt! She's fine walking around like that?!" A finger automatically went to adjust her own bottoms underneath her towel.

Glimmer's hand covered her mouth, "Hey, you wanna keep your voice down?! Keep that up and they're gonna notice you talking and staring at her." She took a deep breath, "Okay, so see? You're far from running around _in your underwear_ , so please stop worrying about it. You look good in what you're wearing, so please try to enjoy yourself" she tried to convince her again.

Adora paused before taking a shaky breath, "Okay, okay. I'll try to calm down and relax." Slowly she unwrapped herself before laying the towel down, but still generally had her arms crossed over her exposed abdominal region.

"Great, now that's settled, you still got first pick. What do you wanna do first?" Glimmer kindly asked.

"Umm, okay. What about that sand castle Goofy mentioned? How does that work?"

Glimmer raised an eyebrow, "How about you take a guess?"

Adora's face flushed a bit, "I guess we use the sand to try and build a castle?"

She smiled before gently elbowing her on the side, "Hey, you got it on one." She turned to Goofy, "Hey, we're gonna build sand castles! You ready?!"

Goofy jumped, "Oh boy! I'm gonna build the best moat anyone of ya's have seen! Maxy would have loved this!"

Bow was on his feet, "Oh! Guys, let's totally make this into a team competition! There's six of us, we can do three teams of two!"

Donald surprisingly got excited, "Yeah, this will be fun! I'll be with Goofy. Hey, do you know what would be even more fun? If there were stakes involved!" Not surprising anymore.

Bow put his hands on his hips as he smiled excitedly, "Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?"

Donald thought about it for a second before he came up with an idea, "I know, how about the team who gets in last has to babysit Entrapta for the next week? No shift change, no trading."

* * *

Meanwhile

"PUT ME OUT, PUT ME OUT, PUT ME OUT!" Carla came running out of the Gummi Ship, her clothes and armor a lit in flames. The moment she was outside she jumped to the ground and started rolling as much as she could.

"I'M TRYING, HOLD STILL!" Her partner Ali had ran out after her, her cape was ripped off and bundled up before she smacked down to try and put the fire out.

Princess Entrapta came rushing out with a filled bucket, "Hold still, I've got my bucket stash right here!" Already her arms were in motion to fling the bucket's liquid content.

As though in slow motion, both Ali and Carla waved their arms and yelled "NOOOOOOOOOO!" But it was too late.

* * *

Everyone suddenly looked nervous, Glimmer taking her hat off before fanning herself, "Ooooh, that is a big pill to swallow." She swiftly took a step back and closer to Bow. "Just to clarify, it's the team who gets absolute last that loses, right? How does the voting work?"

"Each person votes on a castle that's not their own. Whoever gets the least vote loses" the wizard explained.

"Uh-huh" Glimmer took another discreet step closer to a worried looking Bow, "And first and second place winners are completely off the hook for Entrapta duty for the entire week?"

"Yup."

"I'm in!" She shouted before jumping the archer, "I'm with Bow!"

Bow looked panicked, "What?! No! Against Team Sora and Adora, are you crazy?!" She rolled her eyes before pulling him in to whisper in his ear. He smiled and then nodded, "Okay, I'm in!"

Adora ignored the act as her competitive side kicked, "Oh yeah! I'm so in and I'm gonna smoke every one of ya! Not sure if I ever mentioned it, but I always got perfect scores when simulating Horde outpost designs." She walked over to Sora and nudged him with her foot. "Sora!"

Sora snapped out of it as he almost dozed off, "What?! I'm awake!"

"Me and you are a team!"

"Whatever it is, sure." He yawned before leaning back and stretching.

Donald cheered before yelling "Majority rules! The bet is on!"

Goofy let out a gulp, "Are you sure about this Donald? Cause I don't think I can take a week of nonstop Entrapta?"

"Don't worry Goofy, with our parenting experience and my magic, we'll win this no problem!"

"But we're up against Sora with Adora as his partner, it's gonna be tough! Then there's also Bow, with his smarts, he can probably think of great ideas and how to build it."

"Yeah it's gonna be tough! Cause we're gonna win!" Adora jumped and shouted, completely forgetting her previous shyness.

Donald rubbed his hands together, "Don't worry Goofy, this is perfect."

Sora scratched his head, "Wait, what's going on?"

Adora grabbed him by the shoulders before bringing him in. "Three way sand castle competition, team who gets last place has Entrapta duty for a whole week, no shift change or trades."

Sora smiled and pumped both his fists, "Yeah! I was one of the best on the beach back home! We're winning this thing!"

"YEAH WE ARE!" Adora pulled him in for a headbutt. "YEAH!"

Sora didn't mind it at all, "YEAH!"

* * *

Twenty minutes into the competition later.

"ADORA NO! THAT'S TOO MUCH WATER!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SORA, YOU'RE BUILDING ONE SIDE TOO HIGH!"

"ADORA, THE COLUMNS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IONIC! IONIC!"

"STOP YELLING THAT AT ME! WHAT IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"NO, NO, NO! ADORA, WATCH YOUR FOOT!"

"SORA, WHAT ARE YOU-GAHHHH!"

"AAAHHHHH!"

From the very get-go, Sora and Adora had no chance at winning. Between their over competitiveness clashing against each other and Adora's complete inexperience on the beach, the two were ultimately helpless. The final nail in the coffin came when Adora nearly kicked down their work and Sora tried to intercept it, only for the two to get tangled up and fall down together on their castle, reducing it into a sad mound.

The two crawled out and looked at what was left.

Sora walked over to the water before he fell to his knees and started pounding the sand, "You blew it all up! Darn you, gosh darn you all to heck!"

Adora rolled onto her back before she covered her eyes and started crying, "It's over. It's over! We're stuck on Entrapta Duty for a whole, uninterrupted week. Oh, the humanity!"

"ALL IS LOST!"

The other two teams had taken their time after the first couple of minute of Sora and Adora's disastrous teamwork was proven, casually working on their castles and having fun with no worries of losing.

"That totally sounds like a forfeit" Glimmer smugly looked at everyone else, "What do you guys think?"

"Yup!" Donald jumped.

"Boy howdy! Though I do feel a little bad for them." Goofy looked over at the crying duo.

Bow raised his hands up before pointing at them, "Hey, you saw them as we started. They knew what they were getting themselves into, but their overconfidence led to their downfall!"

"On the bright side" Glimmer started, "I think Adora is over her swimsuit issue."

After consoling the two losers and salvaging what fun they could mustered, everyone got to finish making a sand castle and marveled at their work. Even Adora got to build one for herself and was proud of her accomplishment, small and as childish it looked, though no one would say it.

Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a quick snack before Sora ran and came back with a volleyball and a net. After setting it up and explaining the rules to Adora, Sora spoke up, "Alrighty, the game is beach volleyball, and we're playing 3v3. Donald, Goofy and I, against Glimmer, Bow and Adora. Everyone ready to play?!"

"YEAH!" they all shouted.

"Let's play!" And so, for almost two hours everyone enjoyed the game, with Glimmer, Bow, and Adora doing the best as a team. Several times they switched the teams up to keep things fresh and balanced, with each person offering a different skill to the game.

Glimmer was fast to teleport around and catch the ball when it was out of the rest of her team's reach before passing the ball. Bow was quick to plan with his teammates so that whenever he passed the ball, he would strike hard and precise enough into a partner's ready hand to create a spike that would catch the opposing team off guard almost every time. Adora's natural athletics let her run around and work her side of the court with ease, though her aim tended to be the worse. Sora was able to leap across the court and always catch it, his problem was that he would catch it even if it would have been out-of-bounds. Donald was slow running across the sand, but whenever he hit the ball, he always managed to make it into a corner shot. Goofy...well, he was Goofy, but whenever he got his own shots in or served, they would go high enough that his opponents would lose track of themselves as they followed the ball.

"Aww!" Sora slumped forward.

"What's up?" Bow and Goofy walked up.

"I just realized that the waves are almost nonexistent!"

"Right, calm and soothing, that's what they're going for" Bow explained.

"Yeah, sure, but that also means no surfing!"

Goofy let out a gasp, "No surfing?! But I was gonna show off the moves Maxy showed me!" He slumped forward too, "They would have been tubular too."

"Wait, what's surfing?"

Sora sighed "What's the point? We'd only be showing you something you wouldn't be able to do." He then walked back to his towel before dropping face first.

Bow scratched the back of his head, "Hey, really sorry you couldn't play your game."

Goofy waved it off, "Nah, forget about it, and don't mind Sora either. He's just being overdramatic."

"You're being overdramatic!" Sora's muffled voice called out.

"See?"

Glimmer, meanwhile, poked her head over Donald's shoulders and peaked at the book he was reading. "So, what book do you have there?"

"It's an advanced tier spellbook." Donald kept simply.

"Huh-uh, what kind of spell?"

"Alteration, the kind that transfigures the world around us."

"Ohh, alteration spells. Neat. Heh, heh."

"Yeah. Neat." He resumed his reading, but moments later he still felt her eyes on him. "Did you have a question about something?"

"Oh no, not at all...okay maybe. I am actually a little interested in magic, and not just the magic I get for being a Princess with a Runestone. In case you weren't paying attention, my dad was a sorcerer, and the leader of Mystacor, and I've always wanted to learn some magic like my dad did." She looked down for a moment, "My mom doesn't exactly want me doing that though. She's afraid I'll get all sorts of ideas, not the good kind. It's just I was hoping I could learn so maybe...I don't know, maybe I could feel a little closer to my dad."

Donald let out a sigh and closed the book, "So since you can't stay here and learn magic, you were hoping I could teach you in Brightmoon without your mom knowing."

"Whaaaat?! I mean, that is an idea. Not a bad one either, right?" She put up an innocent face, accompanied by the dropping and quivering of her bottom lip.

He shook his head, "You want me to go behind your mother's back, just like that? You do remember that she _is_ the Queen?"

Both of Glimmer's hands found their way behind her head, "I mean, maybe you could show me a spell or two before we go back home. They don't have to be huge or anything, and I'm sure it wouldn't be such a huge deal for a master wizard such as yourself. Sora's told us sooooo many great things about you and your magic."

Donald knew from his nephews when he was being buttered up, but decided to humor her. "Okay, what are you wanting to learn?"

Her face went pink, "Well, on the subject of alteration...I learned that you could transform people into merfolks, and that sounds so cool!"

Donald squinted at her, "That is an _extremely_ advanced and draining spell. I use it when we have to go to the undersea world of Atlantica or in a dire water emergencies."

"Oh come on, pleeeeaaase, please, please, please, please?! I've never seen a merfolk before, and it would be amazing to see such amazing magic take place! I mean, they say the only ones that can transform using magic is the Salineas' royal bloodline, but _you_ are a great enough sorcerer that you can do it regardless! How amazing is that?!"

Enough praise and flattery was said, and now Donald was convinced. He looked around at everyone, Bow and Goofy were talking, Adora was near the water drawing in the sand with a stick, and Sora was right next to them laying down. "Oh okay, fine! Just this once!" He sat up before bringing his hands together. In a moment, a ball of swirling green and blue lights formed before it shot out at Sora. He was engulfed in a bright light for a second before dying down. Now Sora laid in his spot with his legs replaced by a dolphin's tail and dorsal fin.

Everyone looked in his direction after the light show and stared in amazement. Sora on the other hand jumped and panicked as he was assaulted by the magical sensations.

"Hey, what the heck?!"

"Holy cow!" Glimmer's pink face turned red as she drooled at the sight.

Bow, Adora and Goofy came running up to him.

"Whoa, dude, what happened?!"

"You got, like, fish legs now!"

"Adora, I think you mean fish tail, since fish down actually have legs" Bow corrected her.

"I know that! Sorry if I was surprised because Sora's legs are now gone and he's half fish!"

Goofy walked over to Donald, "Hey Don, what's going on?"

Donald put his arms behind his head and leaned back, "I was just giving Glimmer here a demonstration of my amazing magic is all."

"Ahh! I've never been on land before as a merman! This is so weird!" Sora shouted in the background.

"Oh my gosh, Donald, you're amazing!" Glimmer praised, not taking an eye off of Sora once.

"Heh, I know I am!"

"Okay, now I need you to do it one more time on B-"

"Nope!" Donald interrupted her, "I don't have my staff, and the spell was already too draining. I have to save my magic so I can turn Sora back."

Glimmer's eye began twitching, "But-but-but, I was, so close to, awwww!"

Donald and Goofy looked at each other for a moment, "What's the problem? I showed you the spell, didn't I?"

"I know, it's just...agh! Please just forget it."

It suddenly clicked for the two. "Ah-hyuck, you just really want to see Bow as a merman."

"What?! Shut up, no!" Glimmer turned red.

Donald's head dropped, "What's up with everyone's romanticized obsession with mermaids and mermen?"

Sora yelled out to him, "Hey Donald, what the heck was that for?!"

"Demonstrating, and you were my guinea pig! Just go play in the water, I'll turn you back later when my magic recovers" he waved at him dismissively.

"Come on! This sucks!" Sora tried to adjust himself into a comfortable position so he could crawl his way to the water, but his new dorsal fin was really getting in the way.

"Dude, you never told us you can turn yourselves into merfolk! That's totally cool!" Bow then turned to the water, "Imagine it, exploring some of the deepest and most mysterious depths that no one has explored. Lost and ancient secrets just waiting to be discovered! Aw man, that is so cool!"

Adora tilted her head as she watched Sora struggle with himself. She was far from understanding on how to take this, along with a strange fluttering in her stomach. "Yeah...really cool. So hey, you need help or something?"

Sora flipped himself over again by mistake, "Yes please, seriously, you guys have no idea how weird this is for me! Water, no problem, but on land, I seriously feel like a fish out of water! I never thought it'd be so literal!"

In a swift motion, she turned him over and scooped him up in her arms and held him. Sora responded by hugging her neck and shoulders, and then batted his eyes at her, "My hero~" Bow began laughing to himself as Adora turned pink. He then started poking at her flushed cheeks. "Look how you are." After the sixth poke, she dropped him to the ground. "Gahhh! My dorsal fin!" Adora then flipped him over with her foot before dragging him by the tail and tossed him in the water screaming.

Adora smiled before huffing "Ah, much better."

His head poked out of the water, "You're just jealous that I can hold my breath indefinitely now!" He then disappeared under the water. He emerged from the water elsewhere with a high jump, "Whoa! Almost forgot how fun this is!" Falling back in the water, he jumped elsewhere again, "Thanks Donald!"

A lightbulb went off for Bow, "Oh snap! Goofy, please tell me you have your shield?!"

"Sure do! Brought it just in case I need to serve snacks with it." He pulled it out of the basket.

"Sweet! Be right back! Keep doing what you're doing, Sora!" Bow down the beach and was soon out of sight.

Adora hummed to herself getting into the water. Sora popped up in front of her as she was waist deep. "Hey Adora! What's up?"

"Hey Sora, how fast can you swim like that?" she asked.

"Pretty fast, why?"

She started scratching her cheek, "Well, I wanted to try something. Think I can try holding onto you as you swim?"

"Hmm, maybe? Here, try grabbing my dorsal and give it a squeeze. See how that feels?" He turned away from here. Adora looked at his fin before doing as he asked. His skin there felt extremely smooth and rubbery, she wasn't sure if she wanted to hold onto it all day or take her hand away and rub the feeling off. "Okay, I don't think it's too bad, but I'm wondering how to do this without smacking you with my tail. Guess we can start slow at first."

"Okay, whatever you think is best." Adora reaffirmed her grip before letting herself float on her stomach.

"Ready?"

"Yeah" she struggled as she kept her mouth above the water.

"Here we go!" Sora forced himself forward and started swimming, keeping close to the surface for Adora. Unfortunately, his thought was confirmed as he hit the girl with his tail. He slowed himself down before letting himself sink just a tad. Giving a slow kick, he realized that he missed her. Craning his neck also confirmed that Adora's head was still above the water, he'd found the right depth to swim at. Picking the pace up again, he could hear Adora's whooping from underwater before he made a sharp turn. He felt her grip tighten, but it was still bearable. Liking his idea, he started curving and making all sorts of twists and turns. That was before he decided to break surface and jump. "Hold your breath!" he yelled in the air before they dove down. He spun himself like a drill before flipping backwards in the opposite direction, he then brought his friend back to the surface. "How was that Adora, you okay?"

She took a gasp of air before shaking her hair from her face. "Whoa! That was amazing! Never thought I'd ever move so fast underwater. Again! Let's do it again!"

"Hey! I want a turn!" They looked back at the beach where Glimmer was waving her arms at them. "Get over here, I want a try!"

"I'm already here, let me have one more turn, then you go!" Adora argued, not ready to give up the fun.

"Guys, I'm back!" Bow came running with a long and thick length of rope. "Goofy, I'm gonna need your shield!"

Goofy looked down at his weapon of choice, "Well boy howdy! Looks like you managed to figure out improv water skiing!

Sora covered his mouth before pointing excitedly at the duo, "Yes! Yes, this is gonna be so much fun! Adora, hang on!" She barely managed to hang on him before he took off.

Back on the beach, Bow threw him on end of the rope to start tying around himself with Adora's help, while the archer started tying a large knot at the other end for everyone to hold onto. "Aw man, you think this is gonna work?!" he was shaking with excitement.

"I'm sure it will!" Goofy confidently reassured him before passing his shield. "I think it's only fair that you get to go first since this was your idea."

There were stars in Bow's eye, "Really?! I can go first?! Sweet!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Glimmer intervened. "Don't you think I should go first? After all, the only reason why we're here is because of me, and I am a Princess." Bow groaned before holding out the shield for her, but as she excitedly reached for it, Goofy grabbed it and held it from her reach. "Hey!"

"Hey now missy, what did I just finish saying?!" Goofy started wagging his finger at her, "I said that it's only fair for Bow to go first! Even if you are a Princess, you should still treat everyone fairly, especially when it's your friends you're dealing with! Now, what do ya say?"

The entire time, Glimmer had flinched and increasingly shrank as the normally kind and gentle knight started lecturing her like her mother. "Sorry Bow, he's right, you should go first" she sighed.

Goofy smiled as he handed his shield back to the archer, "Here you go, Bow."

He smiled to himself as he held the shield before putting a hand on Glimmer's shoulder. "Thanks Glimmer, I promise you'll get the next go. Hey, this way I can tell you whatever I learn so you can have more fun right off the bat!"

"Thanks for always looking out for me" she blushed.

"Okay, so we're good?" Sora asked.

Bow gave him a thumbs up, "Yup, ready!" he threw down the shield and stood on it.

Adora helped him deeper into the water. "Oh yeah! Here we go!"

And so for almost an hour, everyone took turns shield surfing on the water. Fortunately, everyone was able to get the hang of riding pretty fast, but all good things had to come to an end. Sora was positively exhausted, only ever bringing himself to swim that fast for that long when he fought the deadly sea witch, Ursula. He could barely bring himself to float on the surface by the time they were done, Adora even had to grab his hands and drag him back to the sand.

"So. Tired." He got out, face down on his towel.

Adora leaned in and took a sniff of him before pulling away. "Phew, I actually think you're starting to smell like a fish!"

"Your face smells like a fish!"

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, not that he could see it, "Yeah, real good one."

"Your face is a real good one!"

"Aw, thanks, I think so too." She looked towards the wizard, "Hey Donald, think you have it in you to turn Sora back to normal?"

He nodded, "Ah-huh. I also think we put him to real good use, don't ya think?" He started snickering to himself. Putting his hands together like before, he sent a ball of green and blue magic that transformed Sora back to his normal form.

"Ah-hyuck, that sure was fun. Now for the best part about being at the beach." Goofy then laid down and closed.

"That's right" Glimmer agreed with him, "Time to lay down and relax." Glimmer laid down right Adora before tipping her hat to block the sun from her eyes.

The former Horde Soldier looked to Glimmer and Sora on either side of her relaxing or beginning to snooze off. She then laid down and tried to do the same. A few minutes go by, and Adora fidgeted the entire time, not being able to relax or keep her eyes closed. She tried rolling on her stomach like Sora was doing, but that still didn't do it for her. Glimmer had noticed the entire ordeal.

"Having a bit of a hard time there?"

"Oh, um, yeah. Not really used to doing nothing to relax" she admitted.

Glimmer scrunched up her face in thought. "Hey, I think I have a good idea...but first, check to see if Sora's asleep."

Adora shrugged before leaning over Sora and waved her hand over his face, "Sora~ Sora?" she called him softly. She looked back at Glimmer who pumped her fist.

"Awesome. Hey Bow...Bow?" She looked to see Bow snoozing as well. She turned back to Adora, "Hey, would you describe Sora as a heavy sleeper?"

"Pfft, oh yeah. Don't think I've seen a heavier sleeper."

"Perfect!" she quickly crawled to her side. "Here, help me flip Sora on his back. I have just one more beach activity for us." Together the two slowly and gently moved the Keyblade wielder onto his back. "Okay, now we bury him in sand."

Adora looked back at her and blinked, "What?"

The Princess started snickering, "Okay, so get this. We bury him in sand, lightly of course, and then we sculpt the sand to make it whatever we want it to look. And obviously the only thing I can think of is making him into a mermaid. Trust me, this is gonna be really fun." She suddenly noticed Donald to her left, an evil look on his face.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. Perfect, just perfect. Not only is he losing the bet, but I get this too? I love vacations."

"...I have no idea what you are on about, but if you're in with us screwing with Sora, I ain't gonna say no." Together the three covered Sora in sand before they started bringing in some wet sand to start their work. With the three of them, they made quick work of it. "Adora, I need you to make his boobs bigger. I want him to open his eyes and not be able to see anything past them."

Adora felt a sweat drip down. "Make his b-b-boobs bigger? I thought they were already huge." She went to work slapping down more moist sand on them and keeping them round.

Donald was finishing up writing a speech bubble next to his head. "Heh, heh, heh, heh. Wish I had a camera with me to take a picture of this. This is just too good!"

Sora suddenly let out a yawn, "I hear Donald doing his evil laugh. Please tell me he isn't about to touch the forbidden treasure again." Sora wanted to rub his eyes, but realized his arms were kind of restricted. "Huh?" He opened his eyes, but could only see two large mounds of sand and Adora's face. "What's going on? Adora, do I have boobs? Aw man, you guys got me!"

Donald started bawling, "I think you've got more to say than that!"

Glimmer and Adora looked over at what was written. "'Hello sailors, the bar is open, so come on in and get it. All you can eat?' Really Donald? I think of something better than that!"

"It was a work in progress!"

Sora tried to free himself and get up, but Glimmer flicked him on the nose, "Hey, hold still, we worked hard on that, and Bow and Goofy still haven't seen it yet. Guys, wake up!"

Bow immediately snapped out of it, "I'm awake!"

Goofy kept snoozing though. Donald rushed up to him before grabbing and shaking his head, "Goofy, Goofy wake up! Look what we did to Sora!"

"Huh? Gawrsh, how long was I asleep for?"

"Goofy, look!"

Bow was instantly cracking up as he looked down at Sora, "Oh man, they got you good! Wait right there!" He dove at his bag.

Goofy looked over before he started chuckling too, "Hey Sora, you're lookin' awfully pretty today! Did you do something with your hair, maybe?"

"Yeah, yeah, ha ha! Can I get up now?!"

Bow returned with his First One's scanner before holding it up and aimed it at him. "Give me one second...and there!" He turned the device around to show everyone the screen. "Lo and behold, this moment is now forever stored inside my scanner! Entrapta helped me add a camera."

Sora gaped, "Hey, delete it!"

"No way! I gotta show this to everyone first!"

"That's why I'm telling you to delete it! I don't want everyone to have the question answered 'What does Sora look like with boobs?!'"

Glimmer was still laughing, "Come on Sora, it isn't that much of a big deal, is it?"

Sora looked a little grumpy, "No, I guess not...I'm getting up now!" He stood up and dusted himself off.

"Okay guys, let's pack it up! I think we're done with the beach, but I still have more planned, so keep your swimsuits on!" the Princess announced to everybody.

* * *

"Oh! Ah, ah ah!" Adora sighed as she lowered herself into the perfectly warm water of the mineral spa. "Aw man, I'd never thought sitting in hot water would feel so nice~" She could already feel herself wanting to drift away.

"They better feel good, these pools are filled with magic minerals that the sorcerers of Mystacor use to rejuvenate along with clean themselves. They're also made specifically in mind to ease them of worries and anxiety right before performing large rituals or spells. So if you're not relaxing in these, then the past one hundred generations of wizards here messed up somewhere." She relaxed into the water as well.

"Wow, no wonder I feel like I'm ready to start casting magic, these are great!" Donald looked over to Goofy, "Remind me to talk the King into getting some of these."

"Ah-hyuck, will do!"

Sora openly yawned, "Aw, I feel like I'm gonna pass out any moment now" Sora complained as he tried to keep his eyes open. "I fell asleep at the beach, I can't afford to fall asleep again."

Donald yawned as well, "Ah forget about it. This one will be a freebie" he yawned again. "Think I'm gonna fall asleep too."

Soon the contagious yawn was infecting everyone, and before anyone else knew it, they were all out.

* * *

Loud beach music was playing in the background as Sora rode on a huge wave with his surfboard.

" **Alrighty folks! It now comes down to our last contestant and already champion of** **Destiny Islands! Depending on the judges score on this, Sora will walk away as the first Surfboard and Beach Champion of the Universe! He'll go down in history for this folk!** " a disembodied voice announced.

Sora looked confident as he carved the waves, doing all sorts of tricks for the crowds.

" **Look at that folks, he's taken to the air to do the classic Alley-Oop-AND HE TURNED IT INTO THE SUPERMAN! Amazing, I've never seen that before! Smooth landing there, as well. What's this! He's still holding on to this wave! He's Hanging Ten, now Five! LOOK AT THAT, NOW HE'S JUST HANGING!** "

Sora easily hung off this board with no balancing issues, with one arm no less. He was even yawning and using his freehand to cover his mouth like all of this nothing. He flipped himself over and casually rode back to shore.

" **Alrighty, time for the judges to reveal their score...LOOK AT THAT, ALL TENS! HE'S GOT A PERFECT SCORE! There we have it, to no surprise to anyone, Sora is now the first ever Surfboard and Beach Champion of the Universe! What does his adoring crowd have to say?!** "

All of the sudden, all of Sora's friends and companions he's ever met ran up to him, ruffling his hair, patting him on the back, all accompanied by praises and compliments. But he was keeping an eye out for one special lady.

"Sora!" Kairi ran up and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "I knew you could do it!"

"Oh course he could do it!" Suddenly Adora's arms were around his neck and she was giving him a kiss on his other cheek. "He's the greatest ever!"

The red head rolled her eyes, "Duh, I mean, who doesn't know that already?!" She gave him a kiss again, this time on the lips.

"There's nothing Sora can't take on!" Adora's lips met his as well.

Sora let out a happy and content sigh, "Best. Day. Ever." Suddenly lightning struck and thunder clapped, and the sky began to darken. "Huh?" he looked around.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Kairi had let go and shoved a finger into Adora's chest, making her back off.

"What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm kissing my boyfriend! What are you doing kissing him for?!" Adora yelled back, not backing down.

"What are you on about?! Sora's my boyfriend, who the heck are you even?!"

"What's happening?!" Sora looked all over nervously as things began to escalate.

"What does it look like?!" Adora pounded her fists together, and in a flash of light, She-Ra took her place. "I'm a legendary warrior, just like him. What about you?! Think you can take me, ya worthless punk?!"

"Guys!" Sora tried to call out.

"Worthless?!" Outraged, Kairi threw her hand to the side and summoned her Keyblade, "I'm a Keyblade Wielder, just like him! What about you?! You just made yourself taller with wilder hair and now in a skirt, big deal!"

"Guys!" Sora begged.

"Oh, you wanna throw down?!"

"Yeah, I wanna throw down! Sora's mine!"

"No, he's mine!"

"GUYS! Please stop, I'm sure we can figure something out!" He jumped as thunder and lightning struck again. Suddenly the two girls were facing him, the new target of their ire.

She-Ra grabbed and lifted him by his hair, "And what do you think you're doing just standing there while we go at it?!"

Kairi grabbed and yanked at his crowned necklace, "Yeah Sora, I thought you were better than that! Making us fight over you instead of choosing?!" She pulled him closer to her face. "Who's it gonna be?!"

She-Ra lifted him up to her face, "Yeah! Who's it gonna be?!"

Sora's eyes shrunk as he looked back and forth between the two girls of his affection.

" **Well, there you have it folks, not even the champ is free from relationship problems! Sora, you. Are. In. Troubles~because you are now realizing you have another crush besides the girl of your dreams! What are you gonna do now?!** "

"Uh-oh."

* * *

Sora's eyes snapped open, "I'm in trouble." His eyes instantly widened before they slowly traveled down at his left shoulder. Adora's head was resting there as she slept away. "What's happening?!" Sora whispered to himself. Sure, Adora was fun. She's competitive. She's strong headed and rushes into things. She's always eager to do more to help. She's very caring about her friends. Of course she's also really pretty, both as herself and as She-Ra, but that doesn't mean that he has a crush on her!...Ah crap…He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the edge and stayed. Maybe somehow, all of this would go away if he willed it hard enough.

It was also around this time that Adora was starting to come to, whatever she was leaning on was starting to move around. Her eyes cracked open before she saw Sora's face, she shrugged it off before snuggling in some more. Not five seconds past before her eyes snapped open and looked up at Sora again. "Oh no." Her face quickly became cherry red, and she was sure it had nothing to do with the hot water. 'Calm down, you're fine, you're fine. He's still asleep and hasn't noticed you yet...wait, the others.' Her eyes scanned the rest of the pool and saw that everyone was still out of it. 'Okay, there. See? No one awake to see this extremely compromising position.'

"Adora~" a voice whispered her name, "Adora~!"

Her eyes quickly focused on the same shadow as before in the Hall of Sorcerers, but this time, she recognized the shape and voice. "GAAAHH!" Adora screamed as she scrambled over Sora and kicked Glimmer in the head. She dove at where she set down her Sword of Protection and pointed it in the direction of the haunting shadow. "NO! Shadow Weaver! Get away!"

A flash of light dispelled the shadow as Sora's Keyblade clashed and knocked the point of her sword away from him. "Adora?! What are you doing pointing that thing at us?!"

"H-huh? What? No, no! Shadow Weaver! She's here! Where is she?!" Adora looked around, pointing her weapon in every direction.

" _Aero_!" Courtesy of Donald, a gust of wind blew away all of the steam into the room. "There's no one here!" he confirmed.

Adora looked far from calming down yet. "No, she was here, I saw here! She's after me!"

Glimmer held up her hands to try and calm her, "Adora, please, you're safe. No one is coming after you."

Bow still had something to add, "So wait, you brought your sword to the Steam Grotto?"

"Not now Bow!" Donald quickly reprimanded him,

"Sorry."

Goofy came and put his comforting hands on her shoulders before guiding her to sit down, "Okay, let's slow down for a bit Adora. Can ya tell us what happened?"

Adora was still shaken, "It's Shadow Weaver. I saw her, she's here, in Mystacor."

"Shadow Weaver?" Sora asked, "It's that your not mom you were telling me a bit about from before?"

She nodded, "Yeah, her. I saw her at the entrance when we first got here, then I saw her in the Hall of Sorcerers, and again just now."

"Yeah, we sort of noticed this time" Bow commented.

"Ya see" Goofy pointed, "Something did smell fishy after all."

Sora shrugged, "I mean, we all agreed on that already."

Glimmer stepped in front of Adora, "So tell us, who's Shadow Weaver? She's not your mom?"

She shook her head, "No, no mom. None of us in my class had mothers, we were all conscripted because we were all orphans, because who's gonna miss us. Shadow Weaver was the one who raised us though. She was always invested in me, she taught me how to read, how to tie my shoelaces, and of course how to fight and survive."

"So sure, that sounds like mom stuff" Glimmer argued.

"No, commanding officer stuff...no, mom stuff. She was the closest thing I had to a parent, all of us really, but she was always so interested in me out of all the cadets."

"But Adora, she can't be here now. Doesn't Mystacor have defenses specifically to stop intruders from entering?" Donald asked.

She shook her head again, "You guys have no idea what she's capable of. The magic I've seen her do sometimes is disturbing to say the least. There's a reason why _everyone_ did their best to steer clear of her...everyone except for Hordak."

The wizard blinked before he was struck with an epiphany. "Whahahahaha! You two get dressed and ready ya big palookas! Vacation's over!" He then stormed out to get change.

Sora and Goofy looked to each other and nodded, they knew better to question Donald during a time like this. "Right, okay. Bow and Glimmer, stay here with Adora. Make sure she's fine." He and then knight took after the mage.

The three half pints quickly got dressed and ready. "I think I figured out what's happening" Donald started, "I think this Shadow Weaver might have attached a familiar to Adora while we were traveling so she could have access to Mystacor. A witch like her must have scrying spells everywhere and figured we were coming here. Now the Horde would be perfectly placed to strike the city right when it's time for the Rejuvenation Ceremony. If this ritual isn't completed, then Mystacor will be vulnerable to attack!"

"Gawrsh! A whole city so used to being defended and then suddenly losing?! Ya think this has anything to do with those Horde Soldiers we fought just the other day?"

"Maybe?"

Sora crossed his arms, "Then it's like Donald said, all of this is preparations to attack Mystacor, and they used Adora to do it."

"What do we do?"

Sora nodded to himself, "Let's split up, cover as much ground as possible. We got to find that shadow familiar and Castaspella and warn her. We'll meet in the chamber with those Lunar Lenses things, I'll check there first though."

"Good thinking!" Donald approved.

"Stay safe fellers!"

And so the three went their ways, looking high and low for either Castaspella or the shadow, but there were no signs of them. There wasn't much of anyone. When a few wondering sorcerers were caught and asked, they answered that most of everyone was either in class or getting ready to prepare the ritual. When they all finally reconvened at the Lunar Lenses Chamber, trouble was afoot.

"What happened here?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked in to see almost a third of all the crystals that held ancient writing shattered on the floor.

"Your fellow misfit friend, that's what happened!" Castaspella pointed an accusative finger at them. She was shaking in anger.

"Wha?!" Donald jumped.

"Auntie!" Glimmer raised her voice, "Don't worry about her, worry about Adora. For some reason she came in here and went ballistic and broke a bunch of those crystals. She's really losing it and we don't know what to do. We already sent her to bed to try to rest and recover."

Goofy started waving his hands, "What, no! You guys got it all wrong! Castaspella, we think we figured out what's really going on. Go on, tell her your idea, Don."

Donald ran up to overseer of the city, "We think the Horde's sorceress Shadow Weaver has been using scrying spells to spy on Adora, and when she figured out we were coming here right before the ceremony, she somehow attached a shadow familiar to her. She could be planning on trying to interrupt the ritual so the Horde can invade. That's why we ran into those Horde soldiers earlier, they were in the middle of the planning stages just for this."

"What, no way?! There's no way that can be happening...can it?!" Bow was very distrubed at the thought of all that being planned by a single person.

"Don't be ridiculous" Castaspella argued. "There's no way that anyone can just have scrying spells just anywhere...unless if they took account of...but there's no way without a focused catalyst...unless she somehow used Adora, but how and when would the Horde have had full access to her."

Glimmer tapped her fingers together, "I may have also mentioned that Adora is a former Horde Force Captain, but I promise you that she's on our side!"

Castaspella resumed her thought, "But how would this Shadow Weaver possibly know about the eclipse and the Lunar Lenses unless...she is a former sorceress of Mystacor! Then she would know all about-oh-no!" She turned and ran out of the room. "Guard the chamber, I must gather the other masters and start the ritual immediately! We don't have a moment to lose!"

"I have a bad feeling about this" Sora muttered to himself as he got into an alert stance and was looking around for any trouble.

"Oh man, I don't know whether to hope you're right about this and Adora isn't going crazy, or hope you're wrong and the Horde aren't ready to attack the city" Bow said nervously.

"Less talking, stay focus!" Donald whipped out his staff.

Soon, the leader and the masters of Mystacor arrived and circled around the central pedestal. "I've already informed the other masters of what may be happening, so no time for formalities. Everyone, begin!" Castaspella ordered. Right away they all began gathering and weaving magic between their hands before it flowed to the next person. Soon, Castaspella held the powerful orb in her hands. She looked up. "The eclipse is now about us. Revitalizing the barrier now!" She shot a beam of light that bounced from one hanging ornament to the next. It looked like it was about to form a star, but it was interrupted as the room suddenly darkened.

"What's going on?!" Glimmer shouted.

"The shadow is here!" Sora answered as his Keyblade flashed in his hand.

A laughter began to echo all around the room. "Well, well, well. If it isn't little Casta, don't tell me you're now in charge of Mystacor since Micah's passing. Doesn't anyone know you have the attention span of a gerbil? I guess the bar has been lowered since I've been banished!"

Castaspella looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. "Wait, your voice, I know you. You're Light Spinner!"

"I go by Shadow Weaver now" A shadowy figure with red eyes formed in the middle of the pedestal. "I did everything in my power to secure the safety of everyone, but because following the proper rules and practice was paramount to the well being of everyone, you took it all away from me! My status, my pupils, their admiration, everyone's respect! I was labeled as an outcast, a heretic. No one was ever able to look at me the same, they all shunned me! So if me straying just a bit labeled me as completely evil, then I might as well go all the way, and so here I am!"

The city leader pointed at the figure, "You know damn well that you didn't stray just a bit, you were twisting living beings into monstrosities, and that was just the start!"

The shadow held her arms out, "Come now, I'm not here to talk about the past, no, that point as long since left. I'm here for action and revenge, but most importantly take back what is mine!"

Everyone got their weapons and spells ready, "You have nothing left to take back from Mystacor! Leave now!"

"Such small minded fools! I don't care about what Mystacor has to offer except for its downfall!"

Sora understood what Shadow Weaver was getting at. "Well, you're not getting Adora either, so just forget about that! If she wants to stay with us, then she is!"

The shadow glared at him, "Oh no, she will be mine again! Her place is by my side, I will see to it no matter what!"

Suddenly the walls became completely black as wispy smoke emanated from them, then from the wisps, shadowy, four-legged beast with a single red eye jumped forth and attacked. Sora instantly bisected the first creature that went for Castaspella before jumping to the next. It quickly became an all out fight in the limited size chamber, and Mystacor's forces were already losing. These master mages might be difficult to magic in terms of magic spells and incantations, but they have almost no combat experience, especially against foes so close and numerical. It didn't help either that the spellcasters had to also dodge accidental friendly fire, or suddenly have to change their aim because of a teleporting Glimmer kept moving around. In not even a minute, the only ones standing were Sora, Donald, Goofy, Glimmer and Bow.

It seemingly didn't matter how many times they were bashed or hit with spells, the shadow beasts just kept coming. At least now that there were less spellcasters to throw spells around, the fight seemed to be more manageable and less chaotic, and they were keeping things at a standstill. The biggest problem was that time was against them. If they couldn't finish the fight and revive the sorcerers in time, they'll miss their timeframe to restore Mystacor's barrier.

As though sensing their impending failure, all of the shadow beast stopped attacking momentarily so they could all reconvene in the center of the chamber. That's when their forms morphed and merged together to make a massive shadowy tendril that reached more than halfway to the ceiling. Reaching back, it swung in a circular motion to hit everyone. Glimmer was the only one able to evade it, everyone else got knocked back and slammed into the wall. Sora, Donald and Goofy picked themselves up, but Bow was down for the count.

"Bow!" Glimmer angrily faced the shadowy stalk before she shot a blast of sparkling lights at it, making it writhed in pain before lashing out again. She tried to teleport out of the way, but it failed. She was out of charges! "Gah!" She, too, was knocked away before being downed.

"Man, this thing's tough!" Sora complained.

"Well yeah! Everytime it swings, it's pretty much guaranteed to land a hit!"

"Come on fellers, we got to think of something!"

It took another swing at them, but this time Goofy rushed and tried to parry the swing, but only managed to slow it down for Sora and Donald to get out of the way.

"It's like a plant now, what if we use fire magic?!" Sora called out.

"Worth a try! Together now, _Fira_!"

" _Fire_!"

The two balls of fire collided and made a small explosion on impact, but it only seemed barely more effective then Glimmer's attack.

Goofy pointed up at the sun roof, "We're running out of time!"

"Indeed you are!" Shadow Weaver's apparition sneered, "And soon Mystacor will fall!"

"Keep going!" Sora ordered as he jumped over another swing and smack his Keyblade at the base of the tendril. Goofy threw his shield at it and caught the rebound before joining Sora at striking its base. Donald added bolts of lightning at it as well. Everything was adding up, but they still aren't beating it fast enough.

"What?! NO!" Sora, Donald and Goofy glanced over and saw Adora run into the chamber.

"Ah, Adora, glad you could join us" the witch's disembodied voice spoke.

"Shadow Weaver, stop this now!" she demanded.

"Oh, nonsense" she spoke sweetly to her former charge. "The eclipse is nearly over now, and when it is, the shield will be gone, and the Horde will conquer this once great city. Once it's all over, we'll be more than happy to accept you home. _We will_ be together again."

"We won't let you win!" Donald shouted at her.

"We'll see about that!" The giant shadowy tendril in the center of the chamber sunk down, taking its place were a dozen smaller one that circled the room. They bent back before they all shot out red bolts of energy at the three.

"Scatter!" Goofy yelled as he jumped to the side with his shield over his head.

Adora narrowed her eyes before pointing her blade to the air " _For the honor of Grayskull!_ " In an explosion of colors, Adora had transformed into She-Ra. She then leapt over the circle of shadowy tendrils and joined the trio, but not before taking a swing at one of the shadowy creations. "We've got to figure out how to finish renewing the barrier!"

Sora deflected a red bolt of energy before shooting a fireball at the offender. "Donald, can you think of anything?!"

The court wizard looked up at the floating platform near where the mystical lenses floated in place. "Some of the Lunar Lenses are still retaining and reflecting the sorcerers spells, we need to finish the connection!"

Goofy smacked away an energy bolt, "Ya think I can reflect it with my shield?!"

"Worth a try, GO!"

"Goofy, over here!" Sora waved him over with his hands ready to give him a lift up, the knight happily obliged and was thrown above. He held his shield up and tried to reflect the spell, but it did nothing of the sort.

"It's not working!" Figuring he'd be more useful on ground level, Goofy jumped with his shield down and came crashing on one of the shadowy tendrils.

"There has to be another way!" She-Ra tried to look for another answer. She didn't have time though as all of the remaining tendrils sank down and formed the giant one in the middle again. It then took a wide sweep at everyone, catching all who were still standing and smashed them into the wall. Sora and Donald crashed and peeled off the wall, but She-Ra and Goofy bounced and landed back towards the center.

The giant tendril leaned back, prepared to smash its weight against them, but Goofy stood over She-Ra with his shield ready to try and hold it back, "Hang on Adora!"

She looked up at him, there was no way he'd be able to hold that thing off like that, "Goofy, no!" In her hand, She-Ra's Sword of Protection glew in a near-blinding light and was replaced with an ornate shield. In an instant without realizing, she was by Goofy's side and together they were actually able to repel the attack. She looked down at the shield, amazed that it could even transform like this, then she was mesmerized by the blue gem in the center as it glowed and gleamed. "I can finish the connection!" she yelled. "Goofy, I need a lift!"

"You got it!"

She-Ra ran up to Goofy with his shield ready and was forced up to the platform. Before she could take a step, Shadow Weaver's specter formed in front of her. "Adora, there's no need for anything of this. Why help them? They don't really know or understand you, not the way I do, my sweet Adora. I know what it feels like, just as how they close minded fools failed to understand me." She gestured to the unconscious sorcerers of Mystacor. "When I walked among them as Light Spinner, the only thing I cared about was keeping everyone safe and secured, no matter what. So what did they do? Labeled me evil and out of control, and they banished me!"

"What?" She-Ra didn't see that coming.

"That's right" Shadow Weaver nodded and looked downcasted, "I was watching and listening when you looked upon my statue. I loved Mystacor and everyone of my people, and they were in danger from the Horde. I took it upon myself to fulfil my role as their leader and protector, willing to sacrifice parts of my body, mind and soul to save them all. They didn't understand me, who I was, what I wanted, and they treated me as the greatest threat Mystacor has ever faced. They left me broken, and in more ways than one. What was I to do with this new gaping hole in my heart...it was filled with revenge." She looked back up at her and held out her hand. "Please Adora, before they do the same to you, come back home to me."

She-Ra looked shocked and scared at the revelation. "I-I-"

"Adora, what's happening?!" Sora shouted up, still trying to fight off the giant tendril with Donald and Goofy. She looked down at the fight before looking up at the skylight as the eclipse's nearly passed.

"Adora, do you truly believe without a doubt in your heart that they'll never betray you? The same way I was betrayed? I know you, you're strong, you're ambitious, you're committed to whatever you set your mind to. If you take a step too far, believing full-heartedly that you're doing the right thing for those you care about, that they'll cast you out and label you as evil?"

"Adora!" Donald called out.

She-Ra felt herself being shaken to her core. "I-I-I don't know." She fell to her knees and transformed back into Adora.

Shadow Weaver knelt by her side, gently caressing her face before her hair. "There, there. I know the reality of the world is awful, that's why I want to pull you away from them before you have to face the same heartache as I did. I only want what's best for you. Time to go back home."

"Adora!" Goofy shouted.

In Shadow Weaver's embrace, Adora began to feel herself begin to relax, and closed her eyes as her mind began to go blank. That was when memories began to rapidly assault her, they were of all the great times she's had since leaving the Fright zone. In just a short amount of time, she's had more fond and happy memories than her lifetime with the Horde, this today easily being the happiest day she's ever had.

"No!" Adora yelled as she ripped herself away from her grasp. "These are my friends! These people are my friends! They've shown and proven to me that they care about me, that they're kind to me! Something that you and the Horde has almost never shown me!"

The witch threw her arms out, "I wanted to prepare you for this cruel world! To prepare you for greatness!"

"But you've never shown me or Catra love, just your twisted mind games! What happened to you was awful and wrong, but what the Horde is doing to people all over is even worse! I refuse to let it go on!" She stomped down on her still transformed shield and flipped into her hand before she reflected the eclipse's light at the remaining Lunar Lenses.

"ADORA!" she let out before being completely dispersed by the explosion of light that filled the room.

"She did it!" Sora cheered from down below.

"Hurray!" Donald cheered.

"We did it! Mystacor is saved!" Goofy was bouncing up and down.

Adora carefully hopped down to the ground and walked up to the trio. Instantly Sora was concerned. "Adora, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. We just saved Mystacor."

Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at each other. "But you're crying" he pointed.

She brought a hand to her cheek and indeed her face was wet, she had started crying at some point. She quickly wiped her face with her sleeve and took a big sniff, she quickly realized that there was a terrible aching in her chest.

"Adora?" Donald waddled up to her and patted her thigh.

"I'm-I'm okay, really."

Goofy walked behind her and placed both his hands on her shoulder, "Don't worry Adora, take as much time as you need. We'll be here for ya whenever you need us."

Sora nodded his head, "Yup, whenever you're ready to talk. In the meantime, you just saved Mystacor!" He gave her a smile and a thumbs up.

Adora took another sniff before wiping her face again. "Sora, everyone, thank you."

"Alrighty, so let's pull everyone together and cast one big heal!" Donald suggested.

* * *

It was now dusk as the six friends sat on the beach and watched the sunset on the water.

"I really gotta say, this really is the best time of day to be at the beach" Sora decided as he stood with just his feet in the water.

Everyone agreed as they all watched the sun set on this crazy day.

A/N: My longest chapter yet, yay! I know a lot of people are fond of beach episodes and such, so I decided to go all out for this to make it a worthy beach special. Hope you all like this, I know I sure did as well.

Also before people start mentioning it, I know Mystacor is surrounded by clouds acting as waves instead of having a sandy beach and water. Just had to make this change so all of this can be just right.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE

June 9th, 1934 is the day Donald Duck first made his debut, but ever since The Three Caballeros in 1944, his canonical birthday has simply been Friday the 13th, attributing to his ever constant bad luck. It has since been further elaborated that his actual birthday is March 13th, so while not actually official...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONALD DUCK!

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

He's my little pal

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Daisy is his gal

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

In his sailor suit

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Gee, I think he's cute

I like the way he waddles

And I like to hear him talk

And when somebody makes him mad

Quack, quack, quack, how he can squawk

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Cocky as can be

Quack, quack, quack, Donald Duck

Here's what he taught me

When someone knocks you down

Get right up again

Show some pluck like Donald Duck

Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!


End file.
